


Diana Cavendish: ShinkenRed

by nicthetoony359



Category: Little Witch Academia, Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, Super Sentai Series
Genre: Accidental Plot, Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Crack Treated Seriously, Crossover, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Minor Swearing, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-01-29 04:39:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 33,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12623388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicthetoony359/pseuds/nicthetoony359
Summary: Diana Cavendish. 18th Head of the Cavendish Clan. Leader of the Shinkengers.A collection of stories based on an idea i had. Some will be based off of episodes of Shinkenger, while others will be my own idea's. It is recommended you watch Shinkenger for a few chapters (and just in general, because Shinkenger is great).(This is stupid and silly and i wrote it anyway. The gay doesn't start till later, sorry about that.)





	1. The Star Performers Appear!

“Gedousho! Standing before you is the descendant of the samurai who obliterated your kind 300 years ago! The 18th Head of the Cavendish Clan-”

“Anna.” Diana interrupted, drawing her blade. “I’d much rather skip the formalities.” Her instructor seemed at a loss. “But, my lady. It is imperative to-” She was cut off yet again as the samurai rushed into the horde of monsters, swinging her weapon at the abominations.

She moved with a grace that seemed almost out of place in battle, each slash perfectly landing it’s mark. Diana weaved trough the Gedousho’s ranks with frightening ease, never missing an attack and always succesful in dodging their strikes. The disc she carried was hardly necessary if she was being honest, but it never hurt to be prepared.

Anna and the Kuroko managed to catch up to her after the last of the Gedousho fell. “My lady! That was splendid!” Diana’s suit faded away, revealing her civilian clothes, which were surprisingly casual considering her status. The blonde wore a cold and distant expression on her face, lost in her own thoughts. “Uhm. My lady?”

“Their revival is approaching.” Diana stated, mostly to herself. Anna seemed bashful, hesitant in how to answer. Their lady had seemed particularly on edge these last few weeks, it wasn’t too concerning at first due to the fact it was Diana Cavendish, but now the gravity of the situation was truly brought to the foreground. “I-indeed. Should we make the first move and assemble the others then?”

“No.” Her answer was firm, absolute. “We don’t need to bring in more people than is needed.” Diana started striding away, trying to leave before Anna could answer back. “Wait. Wait! My lady..” The woman sighed, the Kuroko looked among themselves in confusion.

Diana Cavendish was capable of this task, it was what she was born to do after all. The others were leading their own lives, they were living in peace. No one else had to stand beside her, she was ShinkenRed, and this was her duty alone.

The Shinkengers were not needed.

 

 

They were called upon anyway.

Anna couldn’t really be blamed for it, slave to custom and tradition that she was. Still, that didn’t stop Diana from being upset.

Her first impression of her retainers was.. not entirely positive. The one with auburn hair was practically shaking in her boots as Diana approached, reverence and awe apparent in the way she carried herself. It was hardly deserved, but Diana felt it best to keep that to herself.

The black haired girl, introducing herself as Barbara, was less shaking in her boots and more frozen in worry. The third one was the only to truly irritate her, one Amanda O’Neill. Her movements and general attitude screamed of a person unfit for the task at hand. The there was Lotte, who seemed worried yet not nervous.

“I must warn all of you. If you choose this path, there is no turning back.” She had to atleast give them a chance to back out before they forfeited their lifes. “The life of a samurai will be difficult and dangerous. Either you win in combat, or you die.” She prayed they would make the right choice.

They didn’t of course, which both dissapointed and impressed the Lady. Even the O’Neill girl didn’t back down. “Very well.” She threw them their Shodo Phones. “Let’s see if your ready.”

The Gedousho looked at the approaching samurai with a healthy dose of fear. Diana felt odd standing in a group, but now was not the time for such thoughts.

“Imperial Report!”

“ShinkenRed! Diana Cavendish.”

“Same in blue! Hannah England!”

“Same in pink! Barbara Parker!”

“Same in green! Amanda O’Neill!”

“Same in yellow! Lotte Yanson!”

Her retairners took a knee, a show of respect to the Lady herself. “The Samurai Sentai authorized by providence.” They brandished they’re blades in unison, before yelling out their battle call.

“Shinkenger! Forward!”

The team does better than Diana had anticipated. There were flaws, certainly. Hannah was too stiff in her swings. Barbara was too fidgety in her movements. Lotte didn’t have enough strength in her strikes, and Amanda was far too lax about her surroundings, but these things could be improved upon. For now, they were adequate.

It was after the battle now, which went smoothly enough ignoring their ignorance on the Origami. Each of the new Shinkengers were making themselves at home in the Cavendish Household.

“My lady.” Hannah approached the blonde late in the evening, the Cavendish meditating in the training field. Diana sent her an annoyed look. “What is it?” The ginger haired girl stepped back, apologizing profusely. “Forgive me for bothering you my lady! I-i would just like to say.. you were amazing on the battlefield. I am honored that you are leading us.”

An awkward silence followed this. Hannah felt tense at the lack of a response she was receiving. “Get your sword.” Diana said abruptly, standing up and grabbing her discarded weapon. “My lady!” Hannah said, surprised at the sudden movement. Diana looked back at her. “You have potential. But like any sword, skill must be sharpened until it is optimal.”

Her retainer nodded nervously. “Y-yes my lady! Of course!”

They trained until the sun went down. Hannah ended up walking out of their training session with a sweaty brow and a tired arm. Diana couldn’t help but feel somewhat amused at that.


	2. Blue and Pink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hannah and Barbara stake out a young boy's home, thinking he is involved with the Gedousho. Awkward gayness ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on Episode 4 of Shinkenger (You don't need to watch it if your just here for the shipping).

Hannah sat at the bench alone, feeling the chill of night going up her spine. She shivered at the sensation. “This is stupid. Why am i doing this!?” The Shinkenger thought to herself.

The park was empty, save for the currently freezing girl, due to the late hours. Some might think it would’ve been easier for her to simply return the next morning to check on the boy, but there was still the possibility of the Ayakashi returning during the night.

They had encountered an especially odd looking monster that day. It was talking with a boy, who had for some reason not run away at the sight of a demonic horror. From the short peek that Hannah had managed to see of their interaction, it seemed they had formed some sort of agreement.

She sighed, another shiver running through out her whole body. “I should’ve brought a scarf.”

“Hannah!” An increasingly familiar voice called. The girl turned her head to see Barbara running towards her, a food container and.. something else in her hands. “Barbara.” A small smile managed to form on her face. “What is that?”

The black haired girl wrapped the odd looking object around Hannah’s neck. “It’s a muffler.” Barbara said with an excited grin. She offered her a pink blanket, which Hannah eagerly accepted. “Thanks.” Hannah pulled the blanket closer to herself. “But, what about you? There’s only one blanket.”

Barbara considered this for a moment, only now realizing she had neglected to bring another one. “Oh, uhm..” She balanced the food in her hand. “..Uh, i guess we could just share it.” Hannah would’ve very much preffered it if Barbara continued to ignore the small blush on her cheeks. “You sure? I wouldn’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

The other girl shrugged, before gently shoving the bowl she was carrying into Hannah’s hands. “It’s fine. Now eat up, i made it for you.”

She nodded and began eating. It tasted.. odd, to say the least. It wasn’t bad or anything, she just didn’t expect the meat to taste _that_ salty. “How is it?” Barbara asked her, clearly eager to receive an answer. “It’s good.” Hannah answered, it was partially true. They sat in silence for a little bit, with Barbara simply looking at her as she ate.

Moments like these were a nice change of pace for both of them. None of them had expected the path they’ve taken to be easy, but none of them had expected it to be so hectic either. It seemed as if every week a new Gedousho attack was launched, so these small periods of relative peace they enjoyed were deeply appreciated.

And for some reason, Hannah had found those times spent with Barbara especially rewarding.

“Hannah?” Barbara suddenly spoke. “Can i ask you somehing?” The ginger haired girl nodded, unsure of where this was headed. Barbara looked away from her, shifting her attention to the skies. “..What did you give up?”

Her friend stopped chewing abruptly. Barbara looked bashful when she caught Hannah’s reaction. “I-i’m sorry. I’ve just- i’ve just been thinking, i guess, about what i gave up for this.”She looked down out of embarrasment. “If you don’t wanna talk about it-”

Hannah interrupted her. “N-No.” She set her food down, it was almost done anyway. “I was just surprised. You’ve never really talked about it, that’s all.” The girl pulled the blanket tighter to herself. “I wasn’t really too sure what i wanted to do with my life before this, i just finished my sophomore year at college before i became a Shinkenger. Didn’t really know where my life was headed.” She sighed. “I mean, i guess i was kinda interested in..” The last word was mumbled. “..Theater.”

Barbara did a double take, it took a bit before she dechiphered what Hannah had just said. “Theater?” She asked her with a smirk, amused at the shyness her friend was displaying. “Yeah, i really liked theater okay?” She whined and Barbara chuckled. “You don’t have to be embarrassed, Hannah!”

Once she calmed down, Hannah laughed along with her. Any tension or awkwardness dissapearing in an instant. “What about you?” The ginger haired girl asked. Barbara shrugged. “A chef. I really wanted to be a chef.”

“Is that why you cooked me dinner?” Hannah said with a smirk. Barbara smiled back. “I guess. Plus, i just wanted to cook you dinner.” The smirk dissapeared from Hannah’s face, her ears grew red and a knot formed in her stomach.

The black haired girl scooted closer to Hannah, not helping her situation. “It’s getting really cold.” Barbara stated. “And, it’s pretty late.”

“..Fine. Get in here.”

 

Hannah’s eyes fluttered open to the sight of Barbara, sleeping soundly beside her. This alone would’ve been enough to get her flustered, but the fact that they were both clinging to eachother was _really_ what got her heart racing. “Damn it Barbara. Why do you do this to me?” The other girl wriggled against her, groaning slightly. She didn’t seem to be waking up though.

She seemed so peaceful in her sleep. The way her long black curls shined against the morning sunlight, how her arms felt so soft against her fingers, the gentle rising and falling of her chest. Hannah’s mind was devoid of anything that wasn’t Barbara Parker.

“..God.” How had she fallen so quickly for this girl? They had only known eachother for a few weeks.

From behind her, she could hear a door opening and the sound of a little boy. This managed to snap her out of her daze. “Barbara! Wake up!”

 

They were at a temple now, the monster taunting them about the childs injuries. He cried at the pain on his knee, and at the lies he had been fed by the Ayakashi. Needless to say, the two samurai were rather vexed.

“Imperial Report!”

“ShinkenBlue! Hannah England!”

“The same in pink! Barbara Parker!”

“The Samurai Sentai authorized by Providence! Shinkenger! Forward!”

Both rush the monster, blades swinging at him. Hannah and Barbara attack from both sides, dodging each strike from it’s spear. He knocked the two back with a strong gust of wind, laughing as they tumbled to the ground. “You two can’t possibly hope to beat me alone, do you?”

“They won’t have to!”

Before he could properly react, the three other Shinkengers jumped him, slashing at the monster. “Amanda.” Diana warned ShinkenGreen as they landed, joining Hannah and Barbara. “Next time we ambush a Gedousho, i’d preffer it if you don’t yell out our presence.”

Amanda groaned as she helped Hannah up. “Come on! We do that whole roll call thing!” Diana shook her head, irritated. “That’s different.” Lotte ignored both of their bickering, supporting Barbara with her shoulders. “You okay?”

“We’re fine.” Hannah said. “Thanks for showing up.” Diana nodded, pointing her blade at the monster. The rest of the team followed suit.

The monster growled in anger. “Come out! Nanashi Renchuu!” Gedousho emerged from nearby crevices and Hannah gritted her teeth. “Hannah. We will handle the foot soldiers, please take care of the Ayakashi.” Barbara interjected. “I would like to help Hannah, my lady. If i may?”

Diana smiled a little under her helmet, she was finding herself doing that often nowadays. “Very well. Charge!”

The Shinkengers lunge into the horde, sounds of swords clattering against eachother filling the area. The boy was watching in awe from a safe distance, all but forgotten by the people fighting. Lotte and Amanda use their respective discs, Lotte transforming her sword into a large shuriken like weapon and Amanda transforming her’s into a spear.

Hannah and Barbara land hit after hit against the Ayakashi, any time he managed to block one of their strikes, the other would slash at an open spot. Each succesful blow served to infuriate the monster further, causing more brash actions and unnecessarily bold moves from him.

“Enough!” The Ayakashi yelled out in anger, knocking both Shinkengers away with a volley of fire and water he summoned. Both manage to recover quickly enough. “Barbara.” Hannah called out to her. “Get your disc, we’ll attack together!” The girl nodded back. They transformed they’re swords into they’re respective special weapons, a bow for Hannah and a fan for Barbara.

Another attack made its way to the two samurai, whom quickly dispersed it with a volley of arrows and a wave of the fan. Hannah and Barbara countered with their own attacks, each water arrow and slice of energy cutting deep into it. The monster fell to the ground, overcome by the wounds it had sustained.

And then it promptly exploded.

The rest of the team were done with the foot soldiers, joining Hannah and Barbara. “I trust everyone is prepared?” Diana looked at her retainers, bringing out her Lion Origami. They nodded, taking out they’re own Origami characters “Excellent.”

 

After thoroughly decimating the monsters second life and making sure that the boy was properly taken care off, the Shinkengers returned to the Cavendish household.

Hannah was busy practicing in the field, trying to get her mind off of the black haired girl that had invaded her psyche. The others were busy elsewhere, Diana had retreated to her room while Amanda and Lotte were getting groceries. Barbara was-

“Uh.. Hannah?”

Standing right beside her, watching as Hannah dropped her kendo stick out of surprise. “Oh, i’m sorry! I shouldn’t have sneaked up on you.” Barbara hastily apologized. Hannah shook her head as she picked up her training weapon. “No. It’s fine. What’s going on?”

The pink samurai cleared her throat. “Um, can i join you? No one else except Anna and the Kuroko are home. We worked really well together, maybe we could work off of that.” Hannah nodded, only now noticing that she was also holding a kendo stick. “Sure.” Both girls smiled, taking their positions.

These feelings she had on Barbara were confusing, she had no idea how to deal with them, but she was glad she had met the girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I put way more effort into this than i intended, admittedly, that's not saying much.


	3. Our Lady (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana is stubborn.  
> Also a flashback and a fight scene. Some set up for Akko's character.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: Forgot to mention. Based on episode 5 of Shinkenger

Diana inspected the orange disc in her hand very carefully.

Anna approached her late at night with two Kuroko by her side, presenting it to the Lady after the hooded men had recovered it after years of being missing. The blonde could recognize it from the dozens of records she had poured over since youth. If mastered, the disc would give the Shinkengers a new weapon and a new Origami creature, they would be invaluable in battle.

Now came the difficult part.

“My Lady?” Lotte knocked the door on her leader’s personal quarters. “Yes, Lotte?” The blonde responded, pocketing the disk. “Me and the others are going to an amusement park, would you like to join us?”

She briefly considered it, ‘briefly’ meaning all of two seconds. “I have business to attend to, just go to the park without me. Enjoy yourself's and be on the look out for any Gedousho.” Lotte gave a somewhat disappointed ‘Of course’, though she tried her best to hide it.

Nothing must be allowed to interrupt her training. This team had done well so far, better than she had anticipated, but this was still her duty as a samurai and head of the Cavendish clan.

Besides, she never liked amusement parks anyway.

 

Amanda sighed in relief, placing her hands on the back of her head. Barbara and Hannah stood close to one another, a bit closer than they normally did, Lotte noticed. The girls were walking trough a fairly populated amusement park near the ocean, with rides and food stands and all the other amenities of a standard amusement park.

“I’m a bit disappointed Diana couldn’t join us.” Barbara said, Amanda rolled her eyes in response. “I’m not. That girl is a buzzkill!” Hannah clearly took offense to that remark. “Amanda! Be respectful when you talk about our lady!”

She was met with an indignant snort from Amanda. “Come on! I can't be the only one who thinks she's a bit of a bi-” Before she could finish her completely innocent sentence, Lotte noticed a familiar form by their right. A certain pink haired girl with perpetually tired red eyes. “Sucy?”

The girl was working at a food stand, wearing a green uniform that matched the dark green and yellow of the store. As usual, Sucy looked disinterested in pretty much everything that went on around her, only an incredibly subtle shift in expression indicated any change of mood when she saw Lotte. “Oh, hey.”

Lotte walked over to the stand, her fellow Shinkengers following after her. “You’re working at a food stand?” Sucy shrugged. The stand was named ‘Fish Market’. It seemed to be selling traditional Japanese seafood with a few unique dishes sprinkled in, a few of them prominently featured mushrooms. “She was the only one who was willing to give me a job.” Lotte raised an eyebrow. “She?”

“Okay Sucy, i’m back and _oh my god you’re the Shinkengers!_ ” A new voice came from the right, the girls turned to see a short Japanese girl wearing the same green uniform Sucy was. Her ponytail bobbed up and down as she ran to the team, she shook Lotte’s hand a bit harder than she probably should have. “It’s such an honor to meet you guys.”

Hannah pulled her away from Lotte, however the bizarre Japanese girl was still moving her hand up and down. “What is wrong with you!” Hannah scolded the stranger, but that didn’t stop her excitement. Sucy rolled her eyes. “That’s Akko, my boss.” A still dazed Lotte was agape. “S-She’s your boss?”

Akko freed herself from Hannah’s grasp. “Yep! The name’s Atsuko Kagari, but people usually call me Akko.” Amanda approached the girl, pushing Hannah out of the way. “So. You know about us?” She nodded excitedly. “I managed to see one of your fights, even that roll call thing you do.” The girl looked around at the group, realizing something very important. “Hey, where’s Diana?”

This question especially caught the Shinkengers off guard. Barbara was the one to voice her thought. “You know our Lady?” Akko nodded. “Yeah, she’s ShinkenRed now, right? I used to be really good friends with her.” Now _this_ got the samurai’s attention. “Diana had friends?!” Amanda almost yelled out the question, without a trace of sarcasm in her voice.

“Amanda!”

 

She fell down to the gravel, her wounds not helped by the small pebbles that stabbed at her. Diana’s arms and face were covered in cuts and bruises, there was even the occasional sore spot or burn mark. Her sword was still held firmly in her grasp, the blade in question having been transformed into its giant form. The Kabuto Disc lay discarded next to her.

Diana wiped the sweat away from her brow, though some of it had managed to seep into her injuries. She ignored the stinging sensation, rising up once again. “This should be enough.” The blonde muttered trough gritted teeth. “Why isn’t this enough?”

Once again, she connected the Kabuto Disc to her sword, and spun. The energy of fire flowed throughout her body, channeled by the Disc and transferred into her blade. Pure power coursed through the blade, she tried very hard not to let her grip weaken as the sword trembled in her grasp. Diana focused only on the blade, trying her best to ignore the pain of her injuries opening.

She was so close to letting go, to letting the power overwhelm. “I just need.. to focus..”

“My Lady?” Diana turned to the voice of Anna

And on que, the flame explodes outward, knocking the blonde away with a much larger explosion than the last one. “My Lady!” Anna rushed to Diana’s side. The blonde was barely conscious, her body drained of energy from her attempts at mastery. Despite that, she still tried to get up.

Anna immediately tried to restrain her, which was actually rather easy even with Diana’s weak attempts at breaking free. “Anna, let go. I must continue.” The blonde spoke quietly but firmly. Anna didn’t budge. “Diana. Your dedication to your duty is admirable, but you can’t perform your duties dead!”

After a few tense seconds, Diana relented. Anna sighed, bringing out her phone. “I’ll have the Kuroko bring us some medicine. For now, just rest here.” And so she did, laying down on the gravel beneath her. Diana’s mind still focused on the Kabuto Disc, the same question she had asked herself remaining unanswered.

They were sitting under the shade of a tree now. Diana leaned against its bark while Anna tended to her wounds. After spending practically her whole life training and fighting, this was a situation she had gotten used to. “I was informed your retainers are visiting an amusement park for the day?” Diana nodded, ever so slightly flinching when Anna poured some medicine over a wound on her arm. “Might i ask why you didn’t join them?”

“It would be a waste of time.” Diana answered resolutely. “I can’t afford to do that. Not now.” Anna nodded, bandaging a cut on the girls cheek. “Perhaps. Though if i may be so bold to say, I think it would’ve done you some good.”

Diana rolled her eyes at the notion. “How so?” Anna chuckled as she placed a bandage over the girls cheek. “Well, with all of the recent Gedousho attacks and just how busy all of you have been this past month, i thought a day at the park would’ve been just the change of pace you needed.” The blonde felt a wave of irritation wash over her. “I’m not gonna waste time on a distraction.”

“And yet you’ll ‘waste time’ on a Shiny Chariot show?” Her mentor said teasingly. Diana could feel her cheeks flush at the mention of her childhood fascination. “That was years ago.” She blurted out. “I was a child.”

Anna laughed at her Lady’s embarrassment. “You still kept the cards though. Besides, didn’t you meet Miss Kagari at one of them?” Diana allowed herself a small smile, reminiscing over the little girl she had met all those years ago. “Indeed i did.”

 

_10 Years Ago.._

 

A very young Diana gripped her mother’s hand. She rarely went out of the Cavendish household, meaning she didn’t really know how to behave in a crowd situation. Bernadette made sure to keep track of her daughter, making sure she never wandered too far. The show was being held at the early hours of night and the two had already purchased their tickets, all there was to do now was wait and watch the sun go down.

Other people ran past the Cavendish’s, they’re status as nobles not easily seen by the relatively casual clothes they wore. Diana looked at the outdoor stage as technicians and other workers were readying it for the show. “Diana, you seem nervous. Is something wrong?” Her mother asked the child. The girl shook her head. “No mother.” She says as much, but Bernadette knows when her daughter is feeling off. “Don’t be nervous Diana. Aren’t you excited were going to be watching Chariot tonight? You’ve been talking about her all the time between practice.”

“Yeah..” Diana nodded nervously. “But i have training tonight. And there’s gonna be a lot of people here..” Bernadette wasn’t surprised at her daughters reservations. For such a young girl, Diana had taken her duties as head of the Cavendish clan very seriously. Training much harder than even Bernadette had at her age. It had come to the point where even Anna was saying the girl needed a little more rest. “One night missed isn’t going to matter too much Diana. Your still a child, it’s about time you learn how to have fun every now and then!” Bernadette smiled at her child and Diana couldn’t help but find it infectious.

Another family sat next to the Cavendish’s, a couple with they’re brown haired daughter. The girl seemed incredibly energetic, barely able to contain her excitement. Diana observed the girl talking to her parents about Chariots magic tricks while they were content indulging they’re daughters obsession, with some well meaning teasing just to be safe.

The girl turned around and saw Diana, whom was a bit curious about her red eyes and how.. kinda pretty they were. “Hi there! My name is Akko!” The strange girl said to Diana. Being someone who had never had a full conversation with anyone her age other than family, Diana reacted about as well as you’d expect.

“Akko, what have we said about bothering other people?” Akko’s mother scolded the girl and looked at the two blondes “We’re sorry, Akko can be a very excitable child.” Bernadette interjected, seeing a golden opportunity. “It’s not a problem. Really.” She chuckled, looking at the family then back at her daughter. “Why don’t you introduce yourself?” Diana looked up at her mother with a surprised look. “Uhm, my name is Diana. It’s n-nice to meet you.”

Akko replied with a smile. “Are you a fan of Chariot too?” Diana only now noticed the small Shiny Rod toy Akko was carrying. “Uh, her magic is really pretty.” The blonde said sheepishly, still unsure about how to react to this girl. “And she’s really cool.”

“Yeah! She’s like the best magician ever!” The brunette girl said excitedly. “All of my classmates think her shows are stupid and fake. But that doesn’t matter if it makes people happy!” Diana, oddly enough, found herself smiling and agreeing with Akko. Perhaps it was the girls seemingly endless energy or her passion as she talked about the magician.

They managed to get along surprisingly well after the initial awkwardness, Akko’s parents looking surprised at the turn of events, though both them and Bernadette seemed pleased. The girls began essentially gushing over the performer until the sun went down, quite literally in this case.

The show began with the rising of the moon, and it was everything both girls had imagined. Chariot was an incredible presence on stage, practically demanding everyones attention as she glided across the floor. Some of her tricks were dazzling, looking almost (for lack of a better word) magical. Though, Bernadette could’ve sworn she recognized some of them from.. somewhere..

Diana was happy though, that’s what mattered for tonight.

 

_Now.._

 

The blonde stood up from her spot in the grass, picking up her discarded weapon. Anna was about to try and convince her to sit down again, until Diana’s Shodo Phone rang. She flipped the device open and put it close to her ears. “Diana.” Lotte’s voice came from the other side. “Gedousho are at the amusement park, we need you here!”

“I’ll be there quickly.” Diana answered quickly, she pocketed the phone and looked at Anna. Her mentor nodded, before sighing. “Be careful, your injuries may get in the way.”

“Noted.”

 

Meanwhile, the amusement park was in a state of panic.

The Shinkengers, transformed into their suits, were doing they’re best to fight against the Gedousho. They were doing fairly well, each monster falling easily to their slashes. “Yeah, woo!” Akko cheered them from the sideline. Hannah turned to look at the girl in disbelief, though that wasn’t really all too clear with the helmet. “Why are you still here? Run!” The brunette did a double take, which allowed Sucy to drag her away despite Akko’s protests.

Lotte threw her Land Slicer at a group of the monsters, cutting them down one by one until it returned to her like a boomerang. Amanda rushed past her to stab at the remaining Gedousho with her Wood Spear. “Lotte, you called Diana right?” The green Shinkenger said as she stabbed a Gedousho that came from behind. Her comrade nodded. “She should be here any minute!”

Barbara was suddenly sent flying trough the air, catching the samurai’s attention. Hannah was the first to rush to her teammates aid, the others quickly following after. “Barb, are you alright?” Hannah supported the girl in her arms, helping her stand up. “I’m fine, Hannah.” Barbara still winced at the lingering pain but still managed to stand on her own.

The sound of gunshots alerted them to the approaching Ayakashi, unfortunately, they weren’t quick enough to react to the creatures attack and were blasted back. “Hmm. Your the Shinkengers then?” The Ayakashi mused, before pointing his weapon at the group. “Goodbye.”

He pulled the trigger, but before the bullets could reach them they were stopped by the metal of ShinkenRed’s blade. Diana stood in front of her retainers, brandishing her weapon. “Forgive my lateness, i was preoccupied.” Amanda laughed trough her pain. “Nah, it’s fine. We had everything under control.”

“Still able to quip, O’Neill?” Diana connected her sword with her disc, transforming it into it’s giant ‘Rekka Daizantou’ mode. She charged at the Ayakashi, blocking it’s bullets with the broadside of her weapon. With a powerful swing, the monster.. was completely unaffected as the weapon just went trough it like it wasn’t even there. Using the opening Diana gave, her enemy unloaded a few shots into her chest, knocking her back.

She staggered, feeling a few of her wounds opening under the suit. A blue arrow of energy flew trough the air before the monster could do anything else. Hannah gripped the handle of her bow as her teammates moved forward to join they’re leader. Diana managed to recover quickly enough. “It’s weak to energy based attacks.” She informed her teammates. It wasn’t too difficult to work out, Hannah’s arrow worked and her sword didn’t. They immediately took advantage of this knowledge, throwing out as many energy attacks and techniques as fast as they could

Diana took out the Kabuto Disc from the compartment in her belt. “There should be enough in this.” She thought to herself. The blonde connected it with her sword and readied herself to spin it.. and then she hesitated. This could end very badly for her, especially in battle with her wounds opening. “Uh. Diana? Could you maybe hurry up?” Amanda said, parrying an attack with her energized sword.

The monster got of a couple shots at the samurai, knocking them back. This snapped Diana out of her dilemma, deciding to place the disc back into her belt. Her sword reverted back into it’s normal form. She spun the blades own disc. “Shinkenmaru!” The weapon was enveloped in a blaze of flame. She ran towards the Ayakashi, raising her weapon in preparation for a swing. But before anymore attacks could reach it, the monster fled into a nearby crevice, unreachable by the samurai.

“Oh come on!” Amanda yelled out in frustration. They’re suits and weapons dissolved into a flurry of energy. Barbara and Hannah leaned into each other while Lotte tried to steady herself. Diana clutched a spot on her stomach, wincing in pain.

On the sidelines, Akko was watching from afar, recognizing the blonde’s familiar features. She was older than when she last saw her, but it was unmistakably Diana Cavendish. “Akko. Why are we still here?” Sucy asked beside her. The brunette was still looking at the bruised team,the blonde in particular. “..Diana.”

 

 

 

~To Be Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally supposed to be one chapter. 
> 
> The flashback was really fun to write, though the fight scene was a bit harder to write.


	4. Our Lady: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana is stubborn and Akko is concerned for her childhood friend
> 
> Again, based on episode 5 of Shinkenger. Though, somewhat loosely.

The team retreated to the Cavendish household for the day to treat their wounds as it were.

Diana and Barbara got the worst of it, Diana more so considering the injuries she sustained before the fight. “Your okay now?” Lotte asked the black haired girl, gesturing vaguely to her stomach. Barbara nodded. “I’ll be fine. Really.” The team (with the exception of they’re leader) were gathered at the Cavendish households meeting room, where the samurai usually met to discuss plans. For now though, it was just to rest up.

Lotte and Barbara sat next to each other while Hannah stood beside them. Amanda sat in the corner across the room, her Shodophone laid beside her. The green Shinkenger looked around the room. “Hey, where’s Diana?” Hannah shrugged. “Our Lady told me she was out training. Why?” Amanda shook her head before laying down, using her arms to support her head. “Just curious. That girl’s been training all day with whatever that disc is. Do you guys know?”

Hannah sat down next to Barbara, leaning her shoulder against hers. The other girl didn’t object. “I’m not sure.. but It looked like an Origami disc.” Everyone else except Lotte seemed confused. “I thought Origami looked like this?” Barbara said as she took out her Turtle Origami, letting it unfold itself into its animal form. The semi mystical, semi robotic creature floated around the space above the pairs heads. Lotte nodded. “Well, some of them. Others take the form of discs when tamed. It depends on the technique used.”

Amanda groaned. “I really should’ve read up on this stuff when i had the chance..” She unfolded her own Origami and watched as the tiny bear pranced around her. Lotte continued. “Anyway, Origami usually have a lot of Mojikara energy regardless of they’re form. It’s why they make great weapons for us, everything we _use_ is based on Mojikara.”

“Uhm.. hello?” A new voice came from the front door. “This place doesn’t have a doorbell, so.. can i come in?” Amanda sat up. “Isn’t that Akko?” Anna suddenly appeared from out of sight, startling the team. “Miss Kagari is here?!” She loudly asked them, seemingly panicked. Akko seemed to recognize the woman's voice. “Anna! Is that you? Can you let me in please!” The mentor sighed in defeat. “I thought i’d finally been rid of you..” She whispered under her breath

Anna opened the sliding doors to reveal the short Japanese girl. She was wearing a yellow t-shirt and a pair of black shorts. “Hi Anna! It’s been a while.” Akko said with a small smile, the woman gave a small frown back. “Indeed. Years if i recall?” She tried to sound polite. “Why are you back here again? Didn’t your family move out?”

“Yeah, I came back here to open up a sushi shop a few months back.” She moved forward and peered behind Anna’s shoulder. “Anyway, i’m here to see Diana. Is she home?” Anna gently pushed her back to a comfortable distance. “The Lady is busy training in preparation for a very dangerous enemy and-” Before she could finish, Akko had already dashed off after saying a very quick. “Oh okay bye!”

Anna stood at the door, perplexed and irritated at the same time. She was never going to understand that girl.

 

Akko wasn’t really sure which training area Anna had meant, but Diana once said the area around the temple was where samurai trained when things were ‘really really serious’, as she put it. Coupled with Anna’s admission about the enemy being very dangerous and Akko’s own experience in seeing the Ayakashi, she made a guess. Thankfully it was the right one.

Diana heard the sound of Akko’s footsteps long before the girl managed to scale the small hill. The blonde was shocked when she saw her old friend standing in front of her, tired and breathing heavily. “A-Akko?” Diana asked, baffled at her presence. It had been years since either had seen each other, they had lost contact ever since the attack on the Cavendish household.

The Japanese girl took a few seconds to catch her breath before looking Diana in the eye, smiling widely. “Hi Diana!” She rushed towards the samurai, startling her and causing her to drop her sword. Before she knew what had happened, Akko was already done enveloping her in a tight hug. “It’s so good to see you again! It’s been way too long!”

Diana had no idea how to react to the sudden contact, nor how to properly respond to a girl she’d stop talking to for a decade.

“..It’s.. nice to see you too, Akko.”

 

_10 Years Ago.._

In a more innocent time, a young Akko watched from the sidelines as Diana swung her Kendo Stick.

The blonde girl moved in a more stilted manner than what she would later use, but for a child of her age, she was outstanding. Each swing had real power behind them, her blocks and parries were quick, decisive. Diana wiped the sweat from her brow, turning to look at Akko when she heard her friend clapping her hands and cheering her.

“That was super cool! I wanna be a samurai too!” Akko exclaimed while she held Diana’s arm. The blonde girl blushed in embarrassment. “It’s not really that impressive..” She said sheepishly. “Besides, being a samurai is really hard.”

The brunette shrugged. “But you get to fight monsters and help people like a superhero!” She exclaimed excitedly. Both children giggled. “Hey Akko, wanna see something else cool?” Diana took out her Shodophone and Akko nodded vigorously. “Anna has been teaching me how to use Mojikara.” She flipped the phone open and shifted it into brush mode.

Akko looked on in amazement as, with a few quick strokes, the kanji for ‘fire’ was floating in the air. Diana pulled Akko back a little. “This could be a little dangerous.”

She pushed the green button on her phone. The kanji shined with red energy before bursting into a small flurry of flame. Akko looked at the fire with curiosity and wonder, Diana could practically see the stars in her eyes and she smiled along with her.

“That’s awesome! It’s like magic!” Akko said as the fire died down. She looked at the device in Diana’s hand. “Can i use it?” The girl said with pleading eyes. The blonde pocketed the phone. “Sorry. You kinda have to have some practice with it. It’d be really dangerous.” Akko pouted. “Oh come on Diana, that’s not fair! You’re no fun!” She whined and Diana laughed at her teasingly, also holding Akko back from taking the phone from her pocket. “Then why do you hang out with me? Maybe i shouldn’t let you come over.” Diana said, but it was obvious she wasn’t serious. Still..

“Diana!”

 

_Now.._

Diana sat down on the stair steps, a smiling Akko next to her. “I didn’t expect to see you again. After so many years..” The blonde said.

Akko nodded. “Yeah. After we moved, i thought the same thing. I’m glad i was wrong though!” She smiled and Diana’s lip twitched for a mere moment before returning to it’s neutral expression. “It’ll be so nice to catch up after all these years! How’s your mom?”

Her friend winced and Akko could immediately tell she had just said something wrong. “Diana? I-I’m sorry. Did i say something wro-” Diana interrupted her. “No, it’s alright. You don’t know what happened..” They sat in somewhat awkward silence afterwards, Akko unsure of how to continue the conversation. Diana did it for her.

“.. My mother passed away. She was.. killed.”

The screams of the previous Shinkenger and images of her mother fighting desperately for her life rushed back into her mind. She was surprised as Akko hugged her once again, this time gentler than the first one. “I’m sorry. I guess i should’ve guessed considering _your_ the one who’s ShinkenRed now.” Diana smiled and shook her head as she gently pushed Akko away. “No need to apologize, Atsuko. You didn’t mean anything by it.”

Akko couldn’t help but notice the slightly melancholic tone in Diana’s voice, but she kept smiling anyway. “I met your team in the park earlier.” The brunette offhandedly mentioned. Diana raised an eyebrow. “Really? I hope they gave a good impression.” She spoke in an amused tone. Diana was pleased at the shift into a more casual tone, it kept her mind away from more.. unpleasant memories.

“They were nice, i guess. But when i offered them sushi they didn’t even want to try it! I think you should give them politeness lessons or something.” The blonde actually laughed at that. “Really? That coming from you Akko?” Akko huffed in an overdone manner, putting up an obviously fake offended tone. “I’ll have you know, I've gotten a lot better about personal space nowadays!”

Diana rolled her eyes. “So, a sushi shop? I see your taking up your father’s profession.” She said with a small grin. Akko nodded. “Yep. I’ve revamped his old cart just a tiny bit though.”

Both fell into pleasant chatter and reminiscing about the time they spent as children. Diana hadn’t felt this light in quite some time, Akko was just as excitable and infectiously joyous now as she was then. The blonde was glad for it, glad she hadn’t lost her playful edge, unlike Diana herself.

“This has been nice, Akko. But i’m afraid i must continue my training. Thank you.” Diana rose from her spot, feeling refreshed and ready to continue. Akko looked up at her. “O-oh. Right.” She sounded disappointed, at least until an idea popped into her head. “Hey Diana. How about i watch you?” She jumped into a standing position.

Diana’s eyes widened. “Watch me?” Akko nodded like a little puppy. “Yeah! It’ll be just like old times!” The blonde was a bit conflicted. It’s not that she wanted Akko to leave, but she also didn’t know if Akko’s presence would distract her. “I promise i’ll stay quiet.” She pleaded like she would’ve done ten years ago.

“.. fine. You can watch.”

“Yay!”

 

Diana attached the Kabuto disc to her blade and spun again. Akko sat a few feet behind her, witnessing the spectacle before her.

She took a deep breath, gripping the handle of her weapon tighter than before. Energy erupted from the blade and Diana started to tremble again. “No, not this time.” The blonde thought to herself resolutely. She steadied herself. Sweat already began to pour down her brow. Every ounce of her Mojikara was poured into this one disc. “Yes!” The word repeated itself in her mind as flashes of orange light bathed her face.

The energy was finished pouring into the disc. She was almost finished, she could feel it completing..

And then she was knocked to the ground by another explosion of fire.

“Diana!” Akko quickly rose to run towards her, before being stopped by Anna pulling on her arm. “Anna? Let me go!” The woman looked down, sighing. “I understand the urge to help her. But.. the Lady needs to do this by her own power.” Akko was already prepared with a rebuttal. “But-”

It was interrupted by Anna continuing her line of dialogue. “We’ll be here to catch her when she falls too hard, but please Miss Kagari, we need to let her try and fly first.” Diana got up again, and then she fell again, and the cycle repeated itself over and over again into the night. Akko felt the urge to help rise higher and higher with each failure, but Anna managed to convince her not to every time. Though perhaps ‘convinced’ wasn’t the right word for every occasion..

Akko learned that night just how determined Diana Cavendish could be.

 

The early sunrise shined down on the manor. There was a peaceful sort of quiet, everyone was either asleep or barely awake except for some of the Kuroko.

Diana groaned as her eyes fluttered open. She found herself laying down on her mattress, the events of last night was blurry except for the fire and the cuts on her face. The blonde seemed to be bandaged up again.

And yet, despite the lingering pain, she felt.. energized.

In the corner of her eye, she could see a slip of paper on the nightstand next to her, as well as her Shodophone. Diana grabbed the note and read it once over, the messy handwriting indicating that it was from a certain brown haired girl. “Diana. I’m going to help you, just you wait!”

Diana was confused at the vague wording, she supposed it was good to have someone else on her side besides the team. Still, she feared she may have brought Akko a little too close to the action..

“My Lady?” Anna’s voice came from behind her door. “Anna? I can’t remember much of what happened last night, did i do it?” Her mentor let herself in, a proud smile on her face. “I believe _this_ is yours?” She showed her the Kabuto disc, it’s orange body shining in the sunlight. Anna threw the item at Diana, who caught it in her hand. It felt familiar now, warm.

The memories surged back to her, and a small smile formed on her face.

Suddenly, a familiar ringing sounded throughout the manor. It was the same ringing that alerted them of a Gedousho attack. Diana jumped out of her bed, Shodophone in hand. “My Lady!” Anna moved to support her but Diana raised her hand to stop the woman in her tracks. “I’ll be fine, Anna. The others will be there to help me by the time i arrive.”

Before Anna could say anything else, Diana had already ran past her, steadfast and determined.

 

The Ayakashi shot at the assembled samurai, who were previously preoccupied by a group of foot soldiers. They managed to dodge the attack in time and the bullets ended up meeting the backsides of the troops. Hannah instinctively stood in front of Barbara, shifting her sword into it’s bow form. Her team followed in the blue samurai’s footsteps, transforming their own weapons.

“Your leader isn’t here? Again?” They’re foe remarked. Hannah pulled back on her bow. “She won’t need to dirty her hands for you.” Amanda grinned, gripping the handle of her spear. “But don’t worry, we’ll take care of you just fine!”

It roared with laughter. “If you insist.” It raised it’s gun and fired a few shots at the samurai, causing the team to scramble. Hannah responded with three quick shots of her own, each arrow finding its mark on the monsters body. Amanda charged at it, stabbing her spear into the Ayakashi’s stomach.

The monster however, wasn’t at all effected by the spear and smacked Amanda across her face. He unloaded a few shots at the green samurai, knocking her down. Lotte threw her Land Slicer at the Ayakashi, who simply stood and let the weapon pass trough him. “What other tricks do you have, samurai?”

“Shinkenmaru!” Diana’s voice came from behind. A slash of her fiery blade cut trough her opponents back, causing it to stumble forward in pain. “You sure like being fashionably late, don’t you?” Amanda groaned as she stood up. “My apologies then Amanda. I’ll try to end this quickly to make it up for you all.”

Her team joined her by her side. “My Lady, do you have a plan?” Diana nodded and took out her personal disc. She connected the item to her sword. “Rekka Daizantou.” The weapon transformed into its giant mode. After a mere moments of hesitation, the blonde took out the Kabuto Disc. Her teammates had varying degrees of curiosity on their faces.

“Just stand back.” Diana ordered the Shinkengers, who were confused, but complied anyway. She gave a small smile before connecting the Disc to her sword. The Ayakashi stumbled, still recovering from Diana’s attack. She pun the Kabuto Disc and her blade was covered with flame. But this time, her hands didn’t tremble, her body didn’t threaten to be blown away by the sheer power.

She had _finally_ tamed it.

The handle bent into a position that seemed more fitting of a bazooka than it was a sword. A compartment in the back of the weapon flipped open to reveal a slot. “Girls! Lend me your disc’s!” Lotte was the first to realize what her Lady meant and took out her yellow disc, slotting it into the weapon. Her teammates followed.

They knelt behind their Lady and Diana aimed for the monster. “Kabuto GoRinDan!” The Ayakashi aimed its own weapon at her in a last ditch effort to deal some damage. Diana furrowed her brow. “Execute!”

She pulled hand on the trigger, _hard_. The blonde was almost blown away by the blast of energy, which amusingly enough, took the form of a giant beetle. The Ayakashi’s bullets were instantly disintegrated by the attack and the monster itself was stabbed by it’s horns.

An ear piercing howl of pain filled the area as the Ayakashi exploded into flames.

Diana’s weapon reverted into its normal form and her retainers stood up. “Okay, that was cool.” Amanda admitted out loud. Hannah, Barbara, and Lotte all held expressions of awe on their faces. “Alright everybody, prepare your Origami’s” The team nodded and took out their personal characters and Shodophones.

 

“Samurai Gattai!”

Shinken-Oh drew it’s gigantic katana and readied it’s shield preparing to defend itself from the Ayakashi’s offense.

The mecha’s slow speed did not help against it’s foes speeding bullets, suffering for it’s weakness with a few shots to it’s head. The team braced themselves as the mech shook due to the attack. “Am i the only one who thinks we should get a gun or something?” Amanda said in irritation. Diana ignored her, taking out the Kabuto Disc instead.

After replacing her own personal disc with it, Shinken-Oh stood tall, ready to accept the incoming addition to it’s body.  

“Kabuto Shinken-Oh! United under providence!”

 

Akko wiped one of her tables clean with a rag and some soap. It was nearing night time now and  Sucy had already finished her shift, meaning it was left for Akko to close up shop on her own.

Like many in the city, she observed the fight between the Shinkenger’s giant mech and a towering demon monster, it was very hard to miss actually. The samurai had won of course, and the addition of a beetle looking robot to the mech signified to her that Diana had indeed mastered the Kabuto Disc.

Still, the image of Diana, _Diana_ of all people, burned and injured. _Diana,_ laying down on the gravel after torturous attempts at mastery was still fresh in her mind. Akko wasn’t able to help, she was just a sushi vendor. She was older now, she knew that it was naive to think she could help a samurai like Diana while the most useful thing she could do was serve up raw fish.

If only..

“Um, excuse me? Are you closing?” The sound of a woman came from behind her. Curious, it was night and there were a few more sushi places around. It wouldn’t be hard to find a place somewhere that _wasn’t_ cold and dark.

She was a meek looking woman, a good while older than Akko, with straight blue hair and unassuming clothes. In her hands was a plain white flip phone. “Um..” She was a potential customer, and business had been slow that day..

“No. Take a seat, i’ll bring out a menu for you.” Akko said, turning around to face the woman. She nodded and smiled at the brunette, doing just as she said. Akko rushed from the stand and back to the woman, menu and notepad in hand. The woman took the menu and looked it over once. “Uh, thank you. I’ll have a.. salmon roll and a glass of water.” Akko jotted the order down.

“Okay then. Are you new here in town?” The woman nodded slowly. Akko flashed her a small smile. “I am too, hope you like it here.” It was always good to try and be nice to her customers, at least that’s what her dad taught her. “What’s your name?”

She looked cautious for a moment, sparing a quick glance at the bag resting against her seat. It wouldn’t hurt to tell.. would it? This girl didn’t look like anyone too important, definitely not someone associated with anybody like the Cavendish’s..

“..Ursula Callistis. My name is Ursula Callistis.”

And the two went on they’re day as normal, Akko remaining ignorant of the robotic squid hidden away in Ursula’s bag.


	5. Things to Learn About

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and Amanda both teach other something. (Not in a shippy way)
> 
> Croix and Ursula are a pair. (Definitely in a shippy way)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a bit short. Apologies.

Amanda really should’ve practiced with her Shodophone more.

It had seemed so trivial before, why would she need anything other than skill with a blade to be a freaking _samurai_. Learning how to properly write Kanji just didn’t seem all that important in the grand scheme of things.

But as Anna and Diana had been so helpful to point out, learning how to use their main energy source and power was kinda important.

She wrote (rather clumsily) the kanji for ‘leaf’ on a piece of paper. The Shodophone’s unconventionally large size made writing with it feel incredibly awkward and unnatural. Amanda was not a particularly patient person, she was certainly capable of it, but Amanda never enjoyed just sitting still. Which unfortunately made this even more difficult than it would’ve otherwise.

The resulting image vaguely resembled the kanji it was intended to be. Amanda took one look over and decided that it would suffice. She pressed the activation button on her phone and hoped for the best.

Absolutely nothing happened.

Amanda groaned in annoyance. This was the third time this had happened during her training session. The Cavendish Household was relatively sparse that day. Barbara and Hannah were getting groceries with a few of the Kuroko and Lotte was off doing whatever it was she did on her free time. Diana was busy meditating or.. something. What her Lady did wasn’t really of concern to Amanda.

She grabbed another sheet of paper from beside her and set it up against the canvas again. “Stupid Mojikara magic crap, why do we even use brushes in the first place?”

This ‘kanji’ was somehow even messier than the last one. She didn’t even bother trying to activate this one.

“Trouble?” An irritatingly calm voice came from behind her. Diana stood and inspected her retainers writing. Amanda shot her a glare. “Nope. Everything’s just peachy.” She said trough gritted teeth. Diana ignored her frankly disrespectful tone. “No need for sarcasm O’Neill. I actually find it admirable that your practicing your Mojikara in your free time.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever i- wait what?” She looked at her Lady with surprise, she just.. complimented her. Diana rolled her eyes. “While it’s true i think you should’ve practiced more before you came here. The fact that you’re trying now tells me that you are at least putting in effort.”

Oh, it was more of just an ‘A for Effort’ thing. That was almost just as humiliating as a direct insult in a way. “Although, effort without the proper skill won’t yield much results.” Diana added and took out her own Shodophone. “Which is why i’m here to help you.”

Amanda’s surprised look only grew with that sentence. Diana grabbed a piece of paper for herself and set it on the ground, shifting her phone into brush mode. “Writing Kanji is something you must learn over time, it cannot be learned in an instant.” She slowly started writing. “Try starting slow. Become acquainted with the technique first. You are able to draw your transformation symbol quickly because it is the one you’ve used often, correct?”

“I guess.” The ginger haired girl said. She drew the kanji for ‘leaf’ again, this time much slower and with more attention to the smaller details. This time, she was more meticulous in her movements, trying to emulate the same slow movements Diana was exhibiting.

The end result was still somewhat messy, but it was better than what she had done before. With a press of a button, the kanji shone a bright green light and a single green leaf manifested using her Mojikara. It wasn’t the optimal result, but it was better than nothing.

Diana’s kanji on the other hand, became a gentle flame proportional to the small size of Diana’s writing. “Just keep at it. Eventually, you’ll get better at it.” Amanda sighed. “Sure.” She supposed it was nice to have her Lady try and help her, no matter how little. The ginger haired girl took the paper from her canvas and flipped it over in her hand “I feel like a freaking Magiranger.”

The blonde looked at her with a curious stare. “Magiranger?”

Amanda looked back at her. “Yeah, you know, the Magirangers? The magical Sentai.” Diana’s curiosity turned into confusion. “ The.. _magical_ Sentai..? I’m afraid i’m not familiar.”

No. That couldn’t be right. The Sentai teams were common knowledge, surely Diana would know about them, right? Granted, the Magirangers weren’t the most recent team, but they were still fairly well known. “The Hurricangers? The Gekirangers? The Go-Ongers?”

Diana merely shook her head. Amanda’s eyes widened in shock. “The Gorangers? Jetman? The Dekarangers? No?” The blonde was at a loss for words as she found herself in situation she always hated being in. This was the first time Amanda had seen an incredibly amusing sight.

Diana Cavendish being clueless about something.

“Oh. My. God.” Amanda couldn’t help but start laughing. “You actually don’t know about them?” Diana was flustered by her retainer’s amusement. “I believe Akko once mentioned the Zyurangers, i think they were called, when we were both little. But none of the others you’ve mentioned.”

This was almost ridiculous to hear for Amanda. The Super Sentai were heroes who had defended the Earth for years, everyone was at least somewhat aware of them. Hearing Diana of all people not knowing about something that was basic knowledge for most people was particularly funny for the ginger haired girl.

“It isn’t my fault.” Diana huffed, hastily trying to explain herself.“I’ve spent my whole life training and learning about becoming a Samurai, i had very little time for anything else.” Amanda’s laughter died down. “I guess. But still, it’s kinda crazy to hear someone who doesn’t know about the guys who protect our planet all the time.”

“Educate me then.” The blonde said, half irritated and half genuinely wanting to know who the Sentai were. Her retainer laid the paper down and pocketed her Shodophone. “Okay, i don’t know a _whole_ lot about the Super Sentai teams, but i know a little.”

She went on to explain the basics of the Sentai. Groups of normal humans and warriors who used a variety of powers to transform into teams of heroes that fought against all kinds of evils. From the dinosaur warriors of the Zyurangers to the intergalactic Dekarangers even to some of the more.. eccentric teams like the Carrangers.

“Or like our team, the Shinkengers. I guess if you just count the modern ones, we’d be the 33rd.” Amanda ended her explanation and Diana forwarded the question that instantly came to her. “If what your saying is true, then why haven’t these teams assisted us in combating the Gedousho? If these Sentai really are dedicated to defending the Earth, then wouldn’t they be something that would catch their attention.”

Amanda shrugged. “Don’t know. Some of them might be just busy with their own stuff. Hell, i’m pretty sure some of them are retired cause of how old they are.” She stood up from her sitting position, taking her sheets of paper with her for later use. Diana was left alone to ruminate.

It’d be interesting, meeting one of these Sentai teams..

 

_Elsewhere.._

 

Ursula returned a few days later with a woman accompanying her.

This woman, with lilac hair and loosely fitting clothes, stayed close by Ursula’s side. She would tease her blue haired companion and Ursula would become adorably bashful. The woman would smile as she just stared at her with dreamy eyes and a stupid grin on her face.

It didn’t take Akko long to figure out who this new woman was.

“So what can i get the happy couple?” The brunette girl said with her trusty notepad in hand. Ursula turned to her while blushing with embarrassment, while the other woman smiled at the red on her girlfriend’s cheeks. They ordered and Akko wrote them down. She was about ready to rush back to the stand before the lilac haired woman noticed something in Akko’s pocket. “Excuse me, is that a Shiny Chariot card?”

Akko stopped and searched herself for the item, which was indeed tucked rather loosely in her breast pocket. She was probably inspecting it that morning (as she often did with her old collection of Chariot cards) and had forgotten about storing it away.

Strange, considering how important this particular card was.

“Yeah, it is. An old friend of mine gave it to me.” She pulled the card out. It wasn’t exactly in mint condition, but was all in all better shape than what one would expect of a trading card that old. “We were both pretty crazy about her when we were younger. I still kinda am.”

Ursula looked at the card with an oddly forlorn look on her face. The other woman, seemingly sensing her companions unease quickly spoke. “I loved her shows too. Shame she just disappeared from the public one day, i would love to see that beauty on stage again one of these days.” The blue haired woman’s blush grew bigger, smiling at her. Akko found that somewhat odd but chose to ignore, instead being happy that she found someone who also appreciated her favorite idol.

“My name is Croix, Ursula mentioned you when we were coming over, Akko right?” The girl nodded. “It’s nice to meet you Miss Croix.”

Akko walked back to her stand to prepare the pairs food. Ursula subtly moved to hold Croix’s hand, she smiled at her. “We’re already dating Croix. You don’t need to flatter me.”

“Oh, but you’re so cute when i do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Crap, i have a plot for this now.
> 
> I like the idea that every Super Sentai season take place within a loosely shared universe. It makes the world feel more lively and gives it a history of heroes to draw upon, not sure if the Sentai teams here are the canon versions or other characters though..
> 
> How are people liking this btw?


	6. Gone Fishing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hannah goes fishing. Akko helps.
> 
> Diana is worried
> 
> (Based on episode 7 of Shinkenger)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God this chapter isn't good until the last bit.

“My Lady!” Anna walked into the meeting room, interrupting the teams breakfast.

Diana looked at her mentor with a raised eyebrow while the other Shinkengers looked at one another in confusion. “Yes, Anna?” Her cold voice sent chills up the old woman's spine. “Oh, forgive me my Lady.” Anna coughed awkwardly into her fist. The blonde sighed, setting down her spoon. “It’s alright Anna. I assume it’s something important?”

The woman straightened her posture and nodded. “Indeed. The Kuroko have located the Kajiki Origami.” Diana’s eyes widened. She stood up abruptly, startling her still confused retainers. Amanda decided to jump into the conversation. “Excuse me, but what the hell is going on?”

Anna and Diana shared a quick look. “We should explain the situation then?” The woman asked her, Diana nodded in agreement. With a snap of Anna’s fingers, two Kuroko entered the room, one of whom was holding a scroll. The hooded figures knelt in the presence of the samurai, before handing over the piece of parchment to Anna.

She unfolded the worn paper, revealing a series of images. The paintings depicted several animals in a traditional Japanese art style, namely a tiger, a beetle, and a marlin. Anna began her explanation. “The Cavendish family have been the proud owner of several Origami’s across it’s long history. Unfortunately, many of these creatures were either lost in combat or have gone missing over the years.”

“Ever since the Gedousho have resurfaced, the Kuroko have been working tirelessly to recover as many of the Origami as they can.” Anna rolled up the scroll and the team nodded in understanding. Diana continued for her. “Due to a lack of masters that wield them, the lost Origami have taken on the behavior of wild animals. It is why i needed to tame the Kabuto Origami first before using it.”

Hannah furrowed her eyebrows. “I see. So this means we have to attend to the Kajiki Origami as well then?” Diana nodded. “Taming an Origami requires Mojikara, meaning only samurai can control them.”

Amanda sighed, looking at her breakfast longingly. “And i just woke up too..” Lotte rolled her eyes and the looked at Anna. “Where is it?”

Before the woman could answer, a bell rung from besides her, alerting the group of a Gedousho attack. “Oh my word..” She muttered under her breath. Barbara stood up. “It looks like we’ll have to deal with that first.” Diana looked at the bell with a worried stare. “I’m afraid that isn’t an option, the Kajiki Origami could very well just flee its location in the time it’d take for us to deal with the problem. We have to do this now.”

“My Lady.” Hannah interjected, standing up from her seat. “Let me handle the Origami. The rest of you can deal with the Gedousho.” Curious looks came from her teammates at the suggestion. “I believe my affinity for the water element may prove useful for the task. Please, allow me to go.” She bowed before her Lady.

Diana looked her over once, then gave a tiny smile. “Very well.” She said simply. Hannah looked up at the blonde with excitement clear on her face. “The Kuroko will escort you to the location. In order to tame the Kajiki Origami, you must fish for it first.” Anna walked over to the auburn haired girl and handed her a white Disc engraved with the kanji for ‘Capture’. “You’ll also be needing this.”

The blonde took out her Shodophone. “Alright then girls, prepare yourself's. We will be heading out immediately.”

 

Hannah stood at the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. With a few quick strokes of her Shodophone a blue kanji appeared in front of her that spelled out ‘Fishing Rod’. She pushed the activation button and the words shined with energy, before materializing into the desired object. Hannah wasn’t at all familiar with fishing, but she felt as if the fishing rod was a bit longer than the standard. Though, considering her target, that may be necessary.

She breathed in. This wouldn’t be that hard, it was just fishing after all. Fishing for a giant semi robotic – semi mystical swordfish perhaps, but still fishing nonetheless.

The girl took out the white Disc from her pocket and connected it to the handle of her fishing rod. She proceeded to scan the area for any sign of the Origami, and found nothing but crashing waves and seagulls flying about. She was certain the Kuroko had led her to the right location, despite their lack of speech, the servants have been exceedingly reliable and trustworthy, they wouldn’t have just set her off on a wild goose chase.

Though, there was the possibility of the Origami having fled already..

That possibility was quickly pushed aside when a loud cry rang throughout the area, disorientating Hannah for a moment. Her eyes widened at the sight of the giant swordfish erupting from the waves in front of her. It soared trough the air for a good few seconds before gravity pulled it down towards the sea, causing a rather big splash in the process.

“How did we only notice this thing _now_?” Was the immediate thought that jumped out at Hannah as she shielded herself from the water being splashed her way. She held the handle firmly in her hands, once again taking a deep breath before casting the rope out to the water.

Hannah spun the Disc on the fishing rod, activating it. Almost immediately, she could feel something very strong and very large pulling on the line. She was almost pulled from her feet by her catch, her grip loosening on the handle though not from lack of trying.

She reeled harder in response to the pull, using every bit of her strenght to fight back. Hannah could feel it weakening in its resistance, it was almost there, just little more...

From the blue ocean waves, Hannah could see her catch flying towards her. She took the Disc from its handle and held it high in the air in preparation to catch the marlin, before realizing almost too late that it was a kitchen sink flying towards her and not a giant robot.

When she did realize it, Hannah ran out of the way in rather comedic fashion, flailing her arms in panic. The sink crashed down on the spot Hannah was standing it, the momentum causing it to bounce right back into the sea. As if to mock her, the Kajiki Origami leaped out of the ocean while letting out its cry.

She was going to be here for a while.

 

Diana and the others tracked the trouble down to a parking lot off all places.

When they arrived, a man was busy choking on the floor besides what was presumably his own car. Barbara and Lotte ran to his side, checking to see if the man was okay. Diana stayed back from the group and surveyed the area. “Be on your guard. Whatever Gedousho did this might still be-”

Amanda interrupted her, pointing at who she could only assume was their culprit. “Uh, guys?”

They turned their heads towards where she was pointing and saw an Ayakashi. The monster was covered in seaweed, or perhaps that was its skin? Whatever it was, the Ayakashi gave them a rather distant look. “Oh, yeah. It was me. You guys are the Shinkengers right? Where’s the blue one?” It shook its head and ripped a piece of seaweed from its body, the vegetation seemingly hardening into a sword. “Wanna fight?”

Barbara and Lotte joined their comrades as the team fell into line, Shodophones in hand.

“Imperial Report!”

“ShinkenRed! Diana Cavendish.”

“Same in pink! Barbara England!”

“Same in green! Amanda O’Neill!”

“Same in yellow! Lotte Yanson!”

“The Samurai Sentai authorized by providence! Shinkenger!”

They brandished their swords at the Ayakashi. “Forward!”

 

In her next few attempts, Hannah managed to catch a bicycle, a trash can, a bag, and an old Zyuranger action figure. Needless to say, she wasn’t having the best luck.

The Kajiki Origami once again jumped high into the sky and then crashed down into the sea again, splashing a very irritated Hannah with the saltwater. “Oh you little..” She muttered under her breath, eyeing the spot where the Kajiki Origami landed.

“Woah!” A voice came from behind her. Hannah looked back wide eyed to see a short brunette girl who felt oddly familiar. “Was that an Origami!? Are you fishing for an Origami?!” She spoke in an almost yell, rushing towards the samurai excitedly with her own fishing rod and a cooler in hand.

Hannah eyed her, confused. “..Who are you?” She said after giving up trying to remember the girls name. Akko looked at her slack jawed, her confusion turning into irritation. “Akko! You met me once before! You know? Diana’s childhood friend!?”

The samurai merely shrugged awkwardly, shaking her head as well. Akko was understandably peeved.

“Look, sorry. But what are you doing here anyway? I’m busy if you didn’t notice.” Hannah asked her. Akko gestured her head to the objects she was carrying. “I came here to fish! Apparently the fishermen couldn’t find any fish near the beach, and when they got further, the waves started getting too aggressive.” The Kajiki Origami peeked its head out of the water. “I think i know why..”

Hannah sighed. “Guess that’s just one more reason to catch this thing quicker.” She turned her attention back to the sea, casting her line once again. Akko set her cooler down and looked at the girl, not really sure what to do now. Her eyes landed on the junk Hannah had managed to catch. “So.. i’m guessing you haven’t caught any fish here?”

The girl shook her head, breathing out her irritations. She was already a bit peeved at the Origami’s stubbornness, she didn’t need some fisher standing around her. Hannah spun the disc again. “Could you just find somewhere else to fish? I need to- oh, oh!” The fishing rod was pulled once again. Hannah poured all of her Mojikara into the rod, standing her ground. Her muscles tensed and sweat began pouring down her brow. Akko stood back and watched as the samurai tried desperately to pull the gigantic robot fish from the water.

And then the rope broke.

Due to her pulling combined with the momentum, Hannah landed her rear on the hard stone. The fishing pole dropped near her. Akko ran towards the samurai. “Are you okay?” She asked, concerned for the girl. The brunette reached for a pocket in her jacket. “Hold on! I think i have a spare set of rope on me..”

“That’s not-” Hannah was interrupted rather rudely by Akko shoving a roll of rope at her. She was going to say that she could just conjure up some rope with her Shodophone, but she guessed it wasn’t too important now. “..Thanks.”

Akko nodded. “No problem! Your one of Diana’s teammates, so i’m here to help.” She proclaimed loudly.

“..Sure..” Hannah rolled her eyes.

A ringing came from her Shodophone. Hannah retrieved the device quickly and flipped it open before placing close to her ear. “Anna? What is it?”

The woman from the other end replied with worry. “Hannah.. i’m afraid the others have been.. poisoned.”

“What!?” Hannah spoke loudly, catching Akko’s interest. “What happened?”

 

Anna stood in front of the door, observing the team as they were tended to by the Kuroko. They were all quivering and writhing in pain, Lotte and Barbara having taken the brunt of the attack. “The Ayakashi that attacked was a Yamiororo. Those who inhale a Yamiororo’s poison will suffer a severe fever and.. die, in only a few days.” She looked away from the team. “Fortunately, the Cavendish family records say that the Kajiki Origami’s power of the sea can be used to save them. Most likely due to the purifying nature of the sea.” Her tone grew even more serious than it was. “Catch it _immediately_.”

 

Hannah nodded vigorously, before pocketing the phone again. Akko looked towards the ground nervously. “Diana..” She mumbled the name under her breath

The samurai furrowed her eyebrows, she was determined to do this now more than ever. Hannah attached the rope to the tool and  into the ocean again and spun the Disc, her Mojikara flowed from her arms and into the fishing rod. She was not about to let her team die to some random Ayakashi.

That attempt was about as successful as the other ones, as well as her two more attempts.

She growled in anger. Why wasn’t this working? Her teams life was on the line and she couldn’t even do something as simple as _fishing_. Was she lacking in Mojikara? Was it something with the Disc? What was happening?

“D-do you need help?” Akko asked her. Hannah ignored the sushi vendor, she didn’t need this right now, she just needed to get the Origami and return to her team. Her team was depending on her, her Lady was depending on her, Barbara was depending on her. She couldn’t let them down now.

Hannah tried again and again, every attempt proving just as fruitless as the last.

Her phone rang again and she figured it was almost certainly not good news. She pulled it out again.

 

Anna eyed the ringing bell with worry covering her face. “Hannah, have you caught the Kajiki Origami ye- My Lady!” From the corner of her eye, she could spot Diana practically limping behind her towards the door. The blonde was forcing herself trough the pain and her weakness, never being one to give up no matter what.

Her legs were about to give way until her mentor caught her. “You can’t fight in this state, it would be suicide!” Diana gave a determined look. “Doesn’t.. matter. I have.. to protect the people..”

“ _My Lady, please don’t be reckless!_ ” Hannah spoke trough the phones speaker. Diana took the phone from Anna’s hand and held it close to her mouth. “Hannah, just.. focus on the Origami. I’m certain you’ll be able to do this.”

She shoved the phone back to Anna, finding some strength remaining in her legs. Diana ran as fast as she could, which was actually rather quick considering her state.

 

Hannah pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the ocean. What if i can’t..?” She had used too much of her Mojikara, there was nothing she could do anymore. There was no way she could do this..

“Okay, that’s it!” Akko yelled behind her, spurred on by the sound of Diana’s voice. She grabbed the fishing rod away from Hannah, despite her loud protests. “What are you doing?! Your not a samurai! You can’t use Mojikara!”

Akko shot her a resolute stare. “I don’t care! I’m going to help her no matter what!” She cast the line to the ocean and spun the Disc. Almost immediately, her legs began to give way beneath her. Akko gritted her teeth, she wasn’t going to let someone like Diana just die from a poison.

Hannah grabbed the handle of the fishing rod and attempted to wrestle it away from the girl. “You idiot! This is going to get you killed!” She found heavy resistance from the surprisingly strong girl, apparently she was hiding a lot of muscle underneath her thin frame.

And was it just her, or was the fishing rod getting lighter?

Somehow, the fishing rod felt ever so slightly lighter. The pull from the Origami wasn’t as strong as it was, and she didn’t have to use too much of her Mojikara anymore. Hannah blinked, confused at the turn of events. “What the..”

Suddenly, the Origami leaped out from the water and this time, it was leaping towards the girls. With the type of reflexes only obtained trough years of training, Hannah grabbed the Disc and raised it to the sky, absorbing the Kajiki Origami inside the circular object. She inspected the item, now blue instead of white. Both girls were breathing rather heavily, Hannah from getting her Mojikara drained, and Akko from simple exhaustion.

The sushi vendor knelt on the hard stone, too weak to remain standing. “Woo..! We.. did it.” She said trough her heaving. “.. How did we do that?”

Hannah looked at the girl and then back at the Disc. She could feel the Kajiki Origami’s energy emanating from the object, the spirit of the creature poking at her subconscious. She looked back at Akko. “I think.. the Kajiki Origami.. likes you.” She couldn’t believe the words that came out of her mouth, but that was what the creature seemed to be whispering to her.

“Oh.. well that’s nice..” Akko said, about ready to pass out. Hannah sighed, exasperated. There would be time for questions later, for now, she had to return to her Lady. “Just stay here and rest for now.”

“Okay..” The girl whispered, her mind becoming blurrier. Unbeknownst to both of them, a blue haired woman was watching from the distance.

 

Hannah arrived just in time to shoot out four blasts from the Ayakashi. The entire team was already there, sharing their leaders bravery and determination.

“Hannah.” Barbara smiled weakly yet the relief she felt was still clear. Hannah smiled. “Sorry i took so long.” She said sheepishly, Diana smirked. “You have the Origami then?” The ginger haired girl nodded. She connected the blue disk to her bow, proceeding to shoot a large water arrow into the sky. The arrow exploded into a shower of healing water that fell across the entire city.

Men and women, previously under the Ayakashi’s ailments, suddenly felt their pain subside, the Shinkengers included. Amanda smirked as she felt the strength return to her. The team rose, standing alongside Hannah. Their foe was rather perplexed at the sudden turn of events.

Diana gripped her Shodophone. “Let’s try this again, shall we?” Her retainers nodded, holding their own devices.

“Imperial Report!”

“ShinkenRed! Diana Cavendish.”

“Same in blue! Hannah England!”

“Same in pink! Barbara Parker!”

“Same in green! Amanda O’Neill!”

“Same in yellow! Lotte Yanson!”

“The Samurai Sentai authorized by providence! Shinkenger!”

“Forward!”

 

The battle was won rather quickly after that, with the Shinkengers walking away from the fight having gained a new weapon and ally in the Kajiki Origami.

Akko was busy cleaning the tables to her stand alongside Sucy, whom was nearing the end of her shift. The sun had set awhile ago and Ursula had not made an appearance, which was odd, she usually came along during the weekends. Perhaps there was some unexpected paperwork or some other thing tutors probably have to deal with.

“Akko, your friend is here.” Sucy said from beside her, pointing a finger at the friend in question. Akko looked toward where the girl was pointing and indeed saw Diana Cavendish standing a few feet away from her, arms crossed while wearing her red jacket. “I’m finished. I’m going home now. Bye.” The pale skinned girl said simply, taking her purse from where she set it down.

Akko nodded while smiling widely, but Sucy was already walking away and not paying either of them any mind.

The early night breeze blew trough the girls, sending small goosebumps down Akko’s spine. Still, her smile held. Diana allowed a small smile to form on her lips. “Good evening, Akko. I hope i’m not bothering you.” Akko shook her head. “Nope! We were just about to close up actually. What’s up?” Akko knew Diana rarely visited just for the sake of it, the fact that the blonde never visited when they were kids had already taught her that, there was something she wanted.

Diana breathed in, surveying the street corner where Akko had set up her stand. She remembered, when they were just children, how Akko said she wanted to be a samurai or a superhero ‘just like Diana’. How she would decry the mere suggestion that she should take up her fathers job as a sushi vendor, and yet now, she seemed.. content. “..Akko. We need to talk.”

The worried tone Diana spoke with alarmed Akko, the smile managing to disappear from her face. “Talk?” She repeated and Diana nodded, this definitely wasn’t good.

“Okay then.” Akko spoke nervously, setting down a few chairs so they had something to sit on. She positioned them facing towards each other. Diana took the que and sat down, followed by Akko. “What do you wanna talk about?”

Diana rubbed her hands together, making direct eye contact with her childhood friend. “Hannah told me about your assistance in obtaining the Kajiki Origami.” She informed her. Akko felt a bit of her unease disappearing. “Most importantly, she told me about how you almost passed out trying to help her.”

Oh dear..

“Diana.. i..” She said sheepishly, trailing of after Diana gave her a cold look. “You were lucky, Akko. What you did could’ve _killed_ you.” Akko looked down, ashamed of herself. Diana sighed, her tone softening. “We are all grateful for your help Akko. But please, stay out of this. It’s dangerous and as someone who can’t properly fight, it could be deadly.”

Akko tried to protest. “But i- i can’t just not help you! What kind of friend would i be then?”

The Lady was touched she still considered her a friend, even after all this time. Which was why she had to stay out of this. “Akko.. your still a valued friend regardless. I appreciate how much you care. But promise me, no more interfering with Samurai business. For your own good.” She extended her hand to Akko, giving her a pleading look. Akko looked at the hand then at Diana’s face. “..Okay.” She took her hand. “I promise. I’m sorry Diana.”

The blonde offered a reassuring smile. “It’s okay Akko. I’m not angry.” She couldn’t help but have a soft spot for the brunette girl, perhaps it was the fact that she brought back pleasant memories of the past, not something Diana had in abundance of. Or perhaps it was just her natural charm and kindness. Whatever it was, the girl brought out a side to Diana few were privy to. She wrapped Akko in a small hug, it was admittedly somewhat awkward but Akko didn’t seem to mind. “And for what it’s worth. Thank you for trying.”

Akko smiled, though couldn’t help but feel a small pang of guilt.

Because she was _so_  going to break this promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ursula is not Juzo. Just to stop you if you were thinking that.


	7. They Ship It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Lotte and Amanda know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just some light shippy fluff. Next one's gonna be plot relevant.

Lotte and Amanda could both see it.

The way they always leaned on each other for support. How Hannah would agree to pretty much anything if it meant spending time with Barbara, how Barbara would seek her out for help and comfort before anyone else. Those lingering looks that lasted just moments longer than they should’ve.

They knew it was more than a little childish, peeking in on their friends and teammates like this in an attempt to sate their curiosity. But by God it was frankly impressive how dense those two were.

A week had passed in relative peace and the samurai were more or less settled into their new lives. The team was overall rather amiable with each other, despite the occasional squabbles Amanda got into. However, as the two girls had observed, Hannah and Barbara were a tad more than just ‘amiable’.

It had started after the night Hannah and Barbara spent alone with each other. Suddenly, the ginger haired girl was acting very.. odd around her teammate. Nobody gave it any real thought at first, just some natural awkwardness after a night like that, coupled with the fact that the team was still new, and it was rather understandable.

But then it _persisted_.

Lotte was the first to pick up on it (for reasons she would be too embarrassed to talk about, but that’s neither here nor there) and after a week of carrying around the thought in her mind, she had finally told Amanda, whom was a little curious why the girl seemed so interested in watching Hannah and Barbara talk to each other. Amanda’s reaction was, surprisingly enough, one of gratified agreement.

And so, here they were, watching stealthily (or at least they hoped so) from the other side of a door. Peeking in as the two girls prepared dinner for the night.

Barbara had quickly established herself a very attentive person. While Hannah seemed to receive a sizable chunk of that attention, she was more than happy to talk to and listen to her fellow samurai. She was the most eager of the group to help the Kuroko, who very much appreciated her efforts. It was no shock then, when she had shared her enjoyment of cooking with the rest of the group offhandedly during training. Neither was it a surprise when she had offered that for this night, _she_ could be the one doing the cooking. Diana gave her the okay and that was that.

She didn’t even need to ask Hannah for her help, the girl volunteered almost instantly when she heard.

Barbara attended the pot filled with boiling water, while Hannah stood behind her and looked over the assorted ingredients. It was clear the ginger haired girl wasn’t entirely comfortable just standing around in a kitchen, but Barbara seemed right at home.

“Do you think they know and are just afraid to say it?” Lotte whispered from beside Amanda. Both were kneeling behind the door, looking trough a small opening from the door. “It’d be like..”

“A really crappy romance novel?” Amanda finished.

“..Uh.. yeah.” Lotte shied away from the look Amanda gave her. It probably wasn’t meant to be judging, but it really felt like it. The taller girl shrugged. “I don’t know but it’s been bugging me like hell for a while.” She sighed. “I mean just get it over with already.”

Lotte looked down, a little embarrassed. “Not everyone is upfront about their feelings you know.” She mumbled, Amanda either ignored her or just didn’t listen.

The creaking of wood alerted Lotte and Amanda to the presence of a particular blonde haired girl. Both turned around to see Diana eyeing them suspiciously, a book labeled ‘Cavendish Family Records’ in her hand. She raised an eyebrow, creating an especially awkward atmosphere as utter silence was the only thing exchanged between the retainers and their Lady.

A sound came from the kitchen, more specifically one of Hannah burning her hand and a concerned Barbara fretting over her. “I’m fine Hannah, really i- aahhh..” Diana gave a small grin at the general direction of the pair, before sharing a knowing look with her retainers. The Lady walked off in the opposite direction, mind returning to the accounts of her predecessors.

Lotte and Hannah looked at each other with disbelief. “Did Diana just..” Lotte spoke quietly, though her confusion was palpable. Amanda slowly nodded, a bit caught of guard herself. “We should probably get out of here before they notice us.”

The girl nodded back and they both stood up. Lotte gave the kitchen door one last look before departing for the meeting hall, where the team usually ate dinner.

 

Why was Hannah so _perfect_?

Barbara watched over her as the girl attempted to balance the tray with six bowls of soup, not helped by the stinging sensation of lingering heat. “You don’t really have to do that. Let me carry it.”

Hannah shook her head. “I was the one who volunteered to help and i haven’t really been doing that.” She ignored the cumbersome weight upon her now tender fingers. “It’s the least i can do after you’ve spent time making this.” She flashed her a little smile that made Barbara’s heart skip a beat.

‘Am i blushing?’ The thought crossed her mind, now certain that her face was colored with a slight red tint. ‘Did she notice that?’

Fortunately for her, Hannah was busy trying to balance the tray, and thus didn’t see the blush. Ever since that night, there was an odd longing she couldn’t ignore. Every time Hannah talked to her with that adorable little smile her mind would slow for just a moment to appreciate it. Whenever she would ask to help her or accompany her, Barbara would feel just a bit more special than she probably should’ve, and then she would mentally scold herself for that.

She almost felt selfish, Hannah always wanting to help her and yet she not doing anything to pay her back. Barbara would have to rectify that mistake one of these days.

“Well at least let me help you carry that.”

 

Croix leaned back into her chair, letting the progress bar on the screen fill up. Connected to her laptop via cable was a metallic body that vaguely resembled a lobster.

The Ike Origami made a sound from its fish tank, situated a few feet away on a table near her left. “Shush you.” The lilac haired woman said, earning what almost sounded like a whine from the squid. Croix sighed. “She isn’t back yet. Just wait a minute.” The Ike Origami.. pouted? It was a hard to tell from a creature that couldn’t make facial expressions.

The apartment door creaked open to, drawing Croix’s attention. Ursula stepped in to her home, carrying a bag full of books and clearly exhausted. “I’m home.” She said, trying to hide her tiredness. A smile played at Croix’s lips as she rose to meet her Chariot.

“Welcome back.” She placed a kiss on Ursula’s cheek, whom responded with a warm smile. “You don’t usually come home this late, Ike was starting to miss you.” The blue haired woman’s eyes traveled to their aquatic companion, then back to Croix. “I’m sorry.. There was a bit of hold up with the kids paperwork and it just became a bit of a mess.” She sighed, letting her bag drop to the floor. “I’m gonna go take a shower.”

Croix waited for her on the couch, flicking trough TV channels as she did so. Ike swam lazily across it’s fish tank, making an occasional chirp.

When Ursula emerged, she was still tired but found that the warm water had helped her unwind a little. She joined Croix on the couch, resting her head atop her shoulder. A new smile, gentler and softer, emerged on Croix’s face as she stroked Ursula’s soft blue hair. The woman hummed in enjoyment, nuzzling her nose against Croix’s neck, causing both to giggle.

“So.. you’ve been working on Ebi again?” Ursula asked her and Croix rested her head against the woman’s own. “I was bored. Started to tinker.” She said casually. “Besides, it might get Ike a new friend to play with.”

They sat in comfortable silence after that, content smiles on their faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing i like about some Sentai as opposed to their respective Power Ranger counterparts are the mechs actually being living (if not necessarily thinking) beings. Expect to see a bit of that.


	8. Golden Part: 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new hero enters the scene, an old one makes a cameo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i decided to delete the last chapter because it really didn't add much to the story and was just getting boring to write and would've been more boring to read.
> 
> I'm still sticking with this, i just need some inspiration

Golden

It had been a normal enough day for Akko. Bussiness was as good as usual, Sucy hadn’t been too rude to any of the customers (though the girl was still far from what anybody would consider an ideal employee), and there had been no Gedousho attacks for the last six days or so. All in all, it had been a good week.

“Here you go sir.” Akko said as she set down a sushi set at the table. The man she was serving had come alone and was a fairly old man, with wrinkles and smile lines adorning his face. He was a good foot taller than Akko and probably weighed a fair more than her.

The man bowed his head politely at her. “Thank you miss.” Akko nodded back and was almost about to return to the stand until the man raised his hand and stopped her. “Excuse me, but i was planning on heading to the train station after this. Do you know where that is?”

Akko nodded. “It’s a bit away, your better off just taking a cab there.” She looked at him quizzically. “Not from around here then, are you?” The man offered back a small and weary smile. “No. I’ve been travelling around lately. An old man still needs a bit of adventure every now and then.”Akko felt a smile tug at her lips as well. “I guess so, my dad says stuff like that all the time.”

“Your father sounds like a wise man then.” He spoke with an amused tone. Akko chuckled before returning to her stand.

Sucy was resting her head atop the counter while supporting it with her hand, the very image of a bored employee. Akko had never told her off for this type of thing, both because it really didn’t matter too much to her and also that it probably wouldn’t do much. “There have been a lot of new people in town” Akko remarked offhandedly. Sucy shrugged while Akko continued. “I mean you’d think the demon monsters would be a turn off for people, but i guess not.”

The day had been peaceful, people were going about their day with relative ease and looked as if the town would finally go a week without some Gedousho attack wrecking the town. For a sweet few moments, everything was peaceful.

And then..

An ear piercing howl resounded trough every corner of the town. The scream was filled with more rage than any of the citizens had ever heard in their entire lives. It was inhuman, almost unearthly in nature.

While Akko was busy trying to recollect her composure, from the corner of her eye she could spot Nanashi Renchuu emerging from the crevices. Dozens of them, dozens upon dozens of them. People immediately began to run away, fleeing in terror from the hordes of monsters that began rushing them.

Akko was about ready to do the same until she saw the one man who didn’t.

“Hey, run!” She screamed at him, but the man simply ignored her. He stared down the horde with an amount of bravery that even seemed to confuse the monsters, as if this life and death situation was nothing to him. Akko really should’ve started running herself but she had to admit, she kinda wanted to see where this was going.

He dropped into a pose, before shouting out his transformation phrase while spinning.

“GO!”

Akko gasped breathlessly, along with Sucy (perhaps the only time Akko had ever seen her even somewhat impressed.) The man was enveloped in a red energy, causing a sizable amount of the horde to take a step back. As the energy subsided and the man turned around to face the Nanashi, it was clear to see that a suit had formed around him. It looked like a red jumpsuit with a white cloak and a red helmet with a bug eye looking visor

“AkaRanger!” He yelled out his code name, jumping into the horde of monsters with a series of kicks and punches. Akko looked at him with wide eyes and her jaw dropped. “He looks.. kinda silly.” Sucy said beside her, before tugging Akko’s sleeves. “Akko, we should probably run.” She said, back to using her usual unimpressed tone.

The brunette didn’t react at first, still in shock at seeing one of her childhood heroes fighting right in front of her. “ _Akko_.” Sucy said with a bit more emphasis than she usually did and that was enough to get Akko’s attention. “Oh, right. We should.. uh, move..” Sucy sighed as she dragged Akko away from the stand.

Akko and Sucy ran as fast as their legs could carry them across the street. From the distance they could see Shinken-Oh fighting off four more giant monsters than it usually did. They had never seen so many of the Gedousho running around, far more than the Shinkengers were prepared to fight.

“So, uh.. where are we going?” Akko asked Sucy, whom responded with an all too casual “I don’t know”.

Before Akko could find the time to yell at her, about five Nanashi Renchu suddenly emerged from nearby crevices and blocked their path under a building. Akko let out a rather loud and panicked scream while Sucy shot the monsters a look that said ‘you’ve gotta be kidding me.’

One of the Nanashi charged at them, quickly followed by the rest of the group. Akko and Sucy wanted to run, despite being more than aware that it would be unlikely they would be able to out run the demons, but their thoughts of fleeing were put on hold by a figure leaping from behind.

The figure was dressed in a tight gold material, with a helmet that resembled the ones worn by the Shinkengers in that it had a kanji as the visor. In fact, the entire suit looked like one of the Shinkengers, just with a gold and blue color scheme. Her weapon was more of a departure from the samurai, instead of the typical katana like sword that they wielded, her’s was more of a short sword without any hilt.

She unsheathed the blade and began slicing her way trough the demons. Akko and Sucy stayed back and observed, the brunette couldn’t help but notice that the slashes were a bit.. sloppy. Granted, she wasn’t exactly the leading expert on swordplay, but what she could remember from her childhood and the peeks she had taken of the Shinkengers, even Diana in her youth was more precise than their savior was.

Regardless, three of the five Nanashi were taken out with a decent amount of effort, with the last two wisening up and attempting to keep their distance from the short reach of her blade. Unfortunately for them, the figure was more than ready to keep pace with them and before long, holes took the place of where their stomachs were.

As the two Nanashi fall to the ground, the figure sheathed her blade and relaxed her pose. Akko and Sucy looked at the woman curiously, eyeing her helmet and sword in particular. The woman turned to look at them and Akko stepped back slightly. “Who are you?” Was what Akko wanted to say, but all that came out was a great big. “Uhh..”

It was Sucy who voiced the question. “Who the hell are you?” She said, causing the woman to flinch at her. She didn’t answer back, instead choosing to run away from the pair.

Or at least she would’ve if an odd looking swordsman didn’t show up behind the woman.

He was dressed in white rags and had a long traditional katana blade resting over his shoulder, sheathed. His eyes sported rather noticeable bags underneath them. The woman dropped into a semi defensive tone, receiving a curious look from the man. Akko and Sucy took a few steps back, with Akko realizing just now that no other Nanashi had come to attack them, almost like they were avoiding them..

“Hmm..” The man said under his breath, drawing his sword. “I was unaware there was a sixth Shinkenger.” He started to walk forward, retaining his neutral expression as his body was engulfed in a dark red flame. Akko and the woman both gasped as the man’s skin seemed to burn away and be replaced by a monstrous form. His head was replaced by a translucent red skull an his body was transformed into a white, almost bone like material. He flourished his blade, pointing it at the golden samurai.

“Show me your skills.”

He charged at the woman with an inhuman level of speed. Almost too late, she managed to catch the attack with her own blade, but only barely. Sucy dragged Akko away by the arm, the brunette’s legs kicked in and they ran behind a building to take cover from the oncoming battle.

Both warriors began fighting, but it was clear from even the beginning that the golden samurai was woefully outmatched against him. Every slash was easily swiped away by the newcomer, and his attacks were only narrowly blocked by the woman. She tried very hard to land even a single attack but he was just out of her league.

It was apparently something the man realized as well, deciding to end the fight with a decisive yet almost casual slash across her torso. The samurai fell to the ground with a thud, her suit disappearing into a flurry of gold energy.

“..Ursula?” Akko breathed out the woman's name. Her blue hair lay splayed across the ground, her opponent gave her a look that seemed almost pitying. Without another word, he walked off, disappearing in another flurry of flame.

Akko threw caution to the wind and rushed to the woman’s side, Sucy following a bit behind her. “H-hey! Are you okay!?” Akko shook Ursula’s unconscious body, yet of course gave she gave no response. “Akko, i don’t think that’s going to work.” Sucy spoke behind her.

“Ursula!? Ursula!?” Another voice suddenly came from behind them. Akko looked back to see Croix looking around frantically with a bag in her hand. “Where are..” Her voice trailed off as her eyes landed on Ursula’s injured body. She ran to the three pushing Akko and Sucy to the side in panicked frenzy, Croix rolled her body over to inspect how bad a state the woman was in, her heart dropping when she saw the large cut across Ursula’s torso. A small pool of blood was already forming on the ground. “Oh God.. Ursula..” Croix muttered under her breath.

“Ursula! Ursula! Please, wake up!” She started shaking the body while an increasing feeling of dread filled her. Her voice was shaky and tears pricked the corner of her eyes.

Akko looked on at the scene with a worried expression that seemed tinted with just the slightest hint of curiosity. Sucy brought out her phone, being the one to call an ambulance. There were questions that needed answers, but that could wait for later.

While this was going on, Shinken-Oh in the distance had successfully eliminated the last of the giant Gedousho. Suffering from a fair bit of damage itself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason i included AkaRanger is basically just to set up the other heroes for this fic, i'm planning on doing more crossovers with other teams (and maybe even Riders) besides the obvious Go-Onger one.
> 
> Stay tuned ;)


	9. Golden Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of closure after the attack.
> 
> Also a bit of a tease.

Golden Part 2

Croix stared in amazement at the sight she was witnessing. Golden trails of light filled their dorm room, taking the form of intricate symbols and Japanese kanji that beautifully fluttered trough the air. A dance of energy and life that fascinated her to no end.

And at the center of it all was Ursula, conducting the dance with elegant movements and a ShodoPhone. She was absolutely vibrant, with the largest smile Croix had ever seen on her (and that was saying a lot) and absolutely brimming with joy.

She was almost sad when it was over, but that was quickly pushed aside by the sight of Ursula, still smiling proudly.

“..Wow.” Was all Croix managed to breath out, still trying to process the new world that had just been opened up to her. “That. That was like _magic_.” Ursula practically preened at the girl’s praise, her smile reaching ridiculous levels of wide. “I know right!? I mean, Mojikara and magic is different, except not really, it’s kinda weird and difficult to explain but..”

Croix chuckled, jumping off the bunk. “Can i see that?” She asked her, pointing at the ShodoPhone. Ursula nodded and handed the device over with no hesitance. The lilac haired woman looked it over once, indeed on first glance, one might’ve just assumed it was an ordinary phone, but now that she inspected it she could clearly see the differences in design. It was slightly bulkier than your average flip phone, presumably to house the brush and possibly whatever powered the thing.

She felt a strong urge to take it apart and study it right then and there, but she felt like that wasn’t too appropriate.

“So what do you think?” Ursula asked her with the excitement that hadn’t wavered in the slightest. Croix smiled at her, making the girl’s heart jump with joy. “It was beautiful.. thank you, for showing me.”

Ursula nodded, before realizing something important she had neglected to mention. “Oh, by the way, could you keep this a secret? There are a few people who mom says shouldn’t know about this sorta thing. So..” Croix’s eyes widened. “Wait, then why would you show me this?” She asked her, surprised that Ursula would share something like that if it was supposed to be secret.

“Uhm, because.. i wanted to?” Ursula answered sheepishly, earning a weary sigh from Croix. “You shouldn’t be so reckless with these kinds of things, i think the fact that you can use freaking _magic_ , should be something your careful about sharing.”

Ursula shrugged, seemingly trying to wave away the concern. “It’s fine. Besides.. I know i can trust you.” Her smile settled into something more calm. Croix snickered, before returning the ShodoPhone to Ursula.

She leaned in to catch Ursula in a kiss, earning a squeak from her.

 

.......

 

That was years ago, they were older now, smarter if not necessarily wiser.

If Ursula was being one hundred percent honest, the reason she did it was mainly (read: only) because she wanted to impress Croix. She wasn’t really sure why she wanted to do that, they were already dating by then, but she was glad she did.

The woman awoke with a pained groan, her eyes slowly opened to see a white sterile room. She laid down in a medium sized bed, hooked up to an IV bag filled with a red fluid she had to assume was blood.

Great, she was in the hospital. Her first outing as ShinkenGold and it ended with a bloody gash across her stomach.

A familiar chirping sound came from beside her, drawing her eye to the bag set to the left of her bed. From the bag, Ike peeked out of it, giving her a look that seemed to convey worry. She felt a faint smile form on her face. “Hey buddy.” Ursula said quietly, surprised at how weak she felt as she did so.

Ike flew from the small bag and laid itself gently over Ursula’s body, excited at her returning from unconsciousness and eventually resting underneath Ursula’s chin.

Their attention was drawn to the door, which opened with a creak. Croix walked in, looking rather disheveled and messy, far from what she normally looked liked. “Croix..?” Ursula called out to her weakly, grabbing the woman’s attention.

“Chari!” Croix said, an incredible amount of relief filling her. She ran up to the bed and placed her hand over Ursula’s, looking at her as if she would fade away if she did anything else. “Oh my God, I thought you had died! I was so worried.” Tears she thought had already been shed started to resurface and a sense of guilt came over Ursula.

“Croix.. I’m sorry.” Ursula said quietly. Croix chuckled trough the tears. “Shut up. Don’t be sorry. Just.. stay alive.”

“Just stay alive.”

 

 

Most of the Shinkengers effectively passed out on the floor after the days fight. Diana in all her time fighting had never faced so many Gedousho at once before. That howl of anger had unnerved her, even worse is that the Cavendish family had offered an explanation as to what exactly it was.

Dokoku, the leader of the Gedousho himself. What elicited such anger, Diana could not guess.

Apparently, as she had discovered from the Kuroko’s and from word of mouth, other heroes had showed up to assist in the battle. There were a few names tossed around, but they meant little to Diana, whom was less than familiar with them. Something about Sentai Rangers and.. Riders? If she was correct.

She supposed that was a good thing, not being completely alone in the fight against evil, but still, this was _her_ fight.

“Our fight.” she corrected herself.

The door to her room opened with a slide. Diana turned around to see Anna standing away from her with a few sheets of paper in hand. “My Lady.”  She said, earning her attention. “Anna, what is it?” Diana replied, only letting the slightest bit of worry show.

“These are some pictures taken during today's battle.” Anna handed the pile of photos over to Diana, who accepted them with a curious look. Her curiosity quickly morphed into shock at the figure the photos depicted. “..Impossible.” She said quietly. Anna nodded in agreement. “Indeed. At least it should be.”

Diana shuffled trough the photos, all of them showing images of a gold Shinkenger. In some she was battling Nanashi, in others she was escorting civilians to safety. “She seems to be helping.” The blonde noted. “Are we certain if she’s an ally or not?”

Anna shook her head. “She disappeared a little while before the giant Nanashi were defeated. This has been the only time anyone has ever seen this person, we can not be sure of anything right now.”

“Check trough the family records, it’s possible a sixth Shinkenger was mentioned somewhere along the line.” Diana ordered her, returning the photos to Anna whom nodded in confirmation. The older woman walked out of the room before closing the door behind her.

A thought crossed Diana’s mind and she reached for her ShodoPhone, typing in Akko’s number which she had received after the last time they spoke. After a frightfully long time waiting, Akko finally answered.

“Hey Diana.” She said casually. “Uh, what’s up?”

Diana raised her eyebrows at her despite Akko not even being in the same general area. She sounded far too calm considering what had just happened today. “I’m calling to see if you were okay, i assume you are?”

“Oh yeah, just fine. Sucy and i managed to get somewhere safe before the real dangerous stuff started.” She said while trying to balance whatever it was she was carrying. “Plus, there were like, a bunch of superheroes helping people, so yeah. Everything was fine!”

“Right.. Akko, did one of these ‘Superheroes’ happen to be a gold Shinkenger?” Diana asked her, getting right to the point.

“Nope, absolutely not.” Akko answered back, a little too quickly. “I mean what would even make you think that? It’s not like there are any Shinkengers besides you guys right?”

“..Right.” Diana spoke hesitantly, Akko was acting rather suspicious..

“Anywaaay, it’s been nice talking to you Diana! Bye!”

With a click, the call ended. Diana looked at the screens a few seconds more before closing the phone while letting out a sigh. Something was going on here, that was clear enough to see, but what exactly was a different question. It probably wasn’t anything malicious.. right? Akko wouldn’t..

She laid back into her sleeping mat, letting out a tired groan.

 

Akko shuffled the phone back into her pocket while carrying a bag with a box full of sushi.

The girl walked down the hall. She was on the third floor of the local hospital, which was rather crowded. Unsurprising, considering recent events. Some of the patients just had some minor injuries while others were less than fortunate. Various people were still being escorted in by a combined force of Kuroko, police, and even the occasional superhero.

It was still so surreal for her to see them, but it was less weird now.

“Um hello?” She nudged open the door to Ursula’s room, peeking her head in bashfully. “Is it okay if i come in? The nurse said it was okay but uhm..”

“Akko?” Ursula said, surprised that the sushi vendor was visiting her. “What are you doing here?” Akko shrugged at the question. “Well, i thought it’d be nice if i paid my best customer a little visit. I even brought sushi! So.. can i come in?”

Ursula was already confused as it was before another question struck her. “How did you know i was here?” Akko didn’t have as good an answer to that prepared when she came in. “Uhh.. lucky guess?”

The woman was, shock of all shocks, not convinced by the explanation.

Akko sighed, this was already never going to work. “Okay, full disclosure, i saw you when you fell. I know who you are.”  Being upfront usually worked in Akko’s favor perhaps it would do the same here.

Ursula’s eyes widened in shock, her mouth gaping at the information. “..Come in then. Your here to talk about that i guess.” Akko nodded, closing the door behind her after walking in. “Well that, and i did actually want to visit you. I wouldn’t have brought the sushi if i didn’t.”

She set down the box on a table near Ursula’s bed before pulling up a seat besides it. The atmosphere was slightly less awkward than Akko had anticipated, but it certainly wasn’t a comfortable one. “So, your a Shinkenger.” Akko said, much less like a question and more like a statement.

“..Not an actual one, no.” Ursula said almost shamefully. Akko tilted her head in confusion. “But, you had the suit! The sword! Everything!” Ursula interjected, pulling herself up into something more of a sitting position. “Not everything. I didn’t have the skill, the training, the knowledge.” Her hand hovered over the wound, a contemplative look on her face.

Before she could lose herself too deep in self deprecating thoughts, Akko voiced the real reason she came here. “So how did you do it?” Ursula looked at her, feeling increasingly confused. “What do you mean?”

“Like, how did you transform?” She said excitedly. “Did you use Mojikara? How did you use it if your not an actual Shinkenger? _Can i use it_?” The last question especially was said with a level of excitement that wouldn’t seem out of place on Ursula when she was younger.

There was a stretch of awkward silence that permeated the air. “..I’m not going to answer any of those.” Ursula said sternly, causing Akko to look rather dejected. “What?! Why!?” The girl said with outrage.

“You know about Mojikara, your connected with the Cavendish’s aren’t you?” Ursula spoke with an accusatory edge, shooting her a glare. Akko nodded nervously, not liking how the situation was turning out. “Uh, yeah?”

Ursula turned her face away to the nearby window, looking out into the city. “Then leave. I have nothing to say to you.”

Akko looked at the woman hesitantly, wanting very much to speak more but realized that it probably wouldn’t be too helpful. “..Okay, fine. Keep the sushi.” She stood, before exiting the room with a determined stride. Ursula looked back at the door, letting out a relieved sigh mixed with just a bit of guilt.

Despite appearances, Akko did walk out of the room somewhat satisfied. Because now she knew something for certain.

If someone who _wasn’t_ a Shinkenger could become one, then there was a chance _she_ could become one too.

 

Night had fallen upon the city, and Tsuyoshi Kaijo found himself smiling.

He was standing by himself in the train station, surrounded by strangers, some of whom he had just spent hours trying to protect. He loved doing this from time to time, checking in on new Sentai teams while occasionally lending a hand to assist them. The other heroes he contacted were also rather pleased to see their legacy upheld.

As he sat on a bench, waiting for the train, he spotted a very familiar figure walking past him, seemingly oblivious to the Sentai Red. “Hongo.” Kaijo called out, drawing the Rider’s attention. The two shared a look, one that spoke of a respect and kinship that was rather difficult to describe.

“Kaijo.” He said with a cool smile. No words were shared between them, Hongo walking off after a few seconds.

There was still much to do for these old soldiers. Dealing with the new ones being most prominent of them. Especially a certain one just passing trough..


	10. Recovery Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the fires of a crisis, what the Shinkengers needed was definitely another one to deal with immediately after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally a supposed to be a full on crossover with the Dekarangers but it didn't really seem to fit.
> 
> I have not been kind to Diana this fic.

The town was still recovering after the last battle, people were still injured, buildings needed repairs, and there were still people missing amidst the devastation, but the people had been trough this sort of thing before and they would get trough it again.

Having a bunch of superheroes around probably helped

After being made aware of their new allies, Diana quickly got to work organizing them. It was good having help, but having help without giving it direction just ends up making things go slower than they should. Thankfully, she quickly found that Sentai teams were rather good at working together (The Riders were slightly more difficult to organize, the few of them that showed up anyway.)

She sent the Kuroko all over town, giving them tasks that ranged from sending medicine and aid to hospitals and effected areas, to delivering messages to the various heroes on what to do.

The heroes were all very good at what they did (i.e. helping people), all of them in their own ways. With the help of information from Lotte on the various teams skillsets, she assigned the Magirangers to the task of rebuilding structures, accompanied by the GoGo V team with their task of search and rescue. The Carrangers (despite their.. odd nature) were instrumental in transporting supplies to the places that needed them. The Dekarangers helped manage the whole situation by monitoring the going-ons off the city.

Of the Riders that showed up (and had agreed to cooperate), they were mostly utilized by way of policing the citizens and gathering data for the Rangers. Still, their contribution was certainly more than appreciated. Diana, with all her years of training and combat experience, was still left a bit awed by the strength and teamwork of her predecessors.

“Thank you Umeko.” She spoke into her Shodophone. “I appreciate the work your team has provided.”

“No problem!” The Pink Dekaranger spoke from the other side of the line. “Whenever a crisis like this happens, we Sentai alumni are always here to help our little rookies!” Diana chose to ignore the thing about ‘rookies’ at the end, _definitely_ not because it bothered her or anything. “Yes well, in any case, keep me informed on the state of affairs if something happens.”

She could practically hear Umeko nodding energetically. “Ok! Good luck on your end!” Was the last thing the Dekaranger said before hanging up. Diana put the phone away, turning her attention to the ruined area around her and Lotte. The other Shinkengers had been called away to other affected areas, leaving Diana with only one of her retainers. That wasn’t to say anything about Lotte herself, she was a reliable and trustworthy person, but one retainer was obviously less than four.

The sound of gravel under her foot served to accentuate the otherwise complete silence of the area. From what she could tell, this was an industrial block that suffered extensive damage from the attack. Most if not all of the victims from said event had already been evacuated beforehand by public services and the various superheroes, but it never hurt to check.

Still, from the looks of things, Lotte and Diana seemed to be the only living things in the immediate vicinity.

“My Lady, is everything alright with the relief efforts?” Lotte asked while looking trough a bit of nearby rubble for any sign of life. Diana nodded at her, making a small grunt of affirmation. “Yes. Have you received words from the others yet?”

Lotte abandoned her efforts, quickly realizing they were fruitless. “No, i think they have their hands full dealing with this plus the other Sentai teams.” She lightly dusted off her jacket, which had gotten quite dirty but she really wasn’t expecting anything else. “Speaking of.. I wonder why the Go-Ongers aren’t here?” Diana sent her a look of slight confusion. Ah, right, Diana wasn’t in the know about this sort of thing.

“The Go-Ongers are the Sentai team immediately preceding us.” Lotte quickly explained, Diana letting out a quick “Oh” to show her understanding. It was still just a tad embarrasing for the Lady, to be relatively clueless about things that were not only common knowledge but, as this very experience had shown her, very useful in her endeavors. Diana liked being in control of a situation, and nothing was more indicative of a lack of control than a lack of knowledge.

She coughed a little into her hand. “I don’t suppose there is anything more to this place Lotte?” Her retainer walked to Diana’s side, taking one final glance around. “No.. i don-”

“Help.. help..”

Lotte was interrupted by the faint voice of what sounded like a group of children cutting trough the eerie silence like a knife. She shared a look with Diana, both of them quickly nodded before running towards the source of the voice. They jumped over various fallen concrete and rubble that blocked their path. “Help..” The voices continued to say, weaker this time yet it sounded like they were getting closer. Just in case, they pulled out their Shodophones, suspecting the use of their powers were going to be necessary.

“Over there.” Diana said, pointing to a mostly intact building with the entrance blocked off by a large pile of rubble. They flipped their phones into brush mode and swiftly drew their transformation kanji.

“Imperial Report!”

They quickly drew their swords, changing them into their personalized weapons. “Rekka Daizantou.” Diana yelled out, destroying the rubble into little more than dust with an attack, assisted by Lotte of course. Afterwards, the two samurai quickly sheathed their weapons once again before running up to the building.

The building in question looked to have been some kind of daycare, probably a place for the workers of the area to drop off their children until the day was over. In midst of the chaos and the confusion, it was most likely the parents were unable to come for their kids.

That also meant that the children inside had most likely been trapped for around a day without their parents.

Diana wasted no time, bursting trough the door with a determined stride. Lotte followed behind, noticing immediately the lack of electricity in the daycare’s entrance hall. It was completely dark save for the sunlight that poured trough the now open door. It was also completely quiet, no voices to be heard.

“Come out, everything is alright.” Diana called out to any people that might be in the building. There was a reception desk to their left and in front of them was a long hallway that presumably lead to other rooms in the building. Lotte could already see three doors along the hallway immediately in front of them labeled ‘Janitor’s Closet’ ‘Room 1-A’ and ‘ Room 2-B’ respectively.

From the corner of Diana’s eye she noticed something peeking out of the desk. She turned towards it and saw the ‘thing’ peeking out was a small girl of about four years of age. Her brown hair was done in a little ponytail that stuck out behind her, she reminded Diana of Akko a little. The girl seemed a bit shaken, possibly by the large explosion that happened only a few feet from her. Her eyes grew wide as she registered who the people in front of them were.

“It’s the Shinkengers!” She proclaimed excitedly, throwing her arms up in glee. Murmurs of awe and relief suddenly spread throughout the room as more and more children peeked out of their hiding places, some emerging from rooms and others from behind benches and the like. Two children, a boy and a girl, were accompanied by a woman at least ten years older than Diana.

“It’s the Shinkengers!” Some of the children repeated in awe and excitement, mixed with quite a bit of relief. “We’re saved! We’re saved!” One boy chanted.

They crowded towards the two samurai, clearly excited to see them. Lotte felt a bit self conscious around the children, mainly due to the large weapon she carried around in her belt that wasn’t really properly holstered in the conventional way (A.K.A it just sort of hung of a compartment on her belt, not at all covered.) Some of them started pulling on the hem of Diana’s skirt, much to her discomfort.

“Alright kids, settle down.” The woman (presumably an employee of the daycare) called out to them calmly, an exasperated smile on her face. She walked towards the Shinkengers, the children making way for her. “My name is Mary.” She said, holding out her hand for Diana.

Diana accepted the gesture, shedding her transformation in the process and earning an assortment of ‘Ooh’s and ‘Aah’s from the children. Lotte followed suit, feeling uneasy from all the eyes on her. “Diana. How long have all of you been in here?”

Mary shrugged, her smile drooping into a bit of a frown. “Almost a day. We weren’t able to call anyone, the signal was cut off for whatever reason. The children here have been fed but i don’t think i would’ve been able to keep it up for long.”

“Lotte, call the Carrangers or the Dekarangers.” Diana ordered her, pulling out her own Shodophone. “Tell them we have people that need to be escorted to safety.”

She did just that.. or at least attempted to. “Uh, My Lady. I can’t reach anyone.” Diana looked wide eyed, checking to see if the same was true for her. She typed in Hannah’s phone number and, sure enough, it was. “What on Earth..”

“What’s going on outside?” The questions of how and why would have to wait for later as one child pointed to outside the door, where the sky itself was seemingly growing darker by the second. The clouds and sun were replaced by an almost pitch black darkness that enveloped the sky. Diana looked outside then back at Mary. “Stay here with the children, keep them safe.”

“Alright.” Mary gave a quick nod at her. Diana and Lotte ran out of the building, Shodophones ready for transforming. They gritted their teeth at the sight before them. Now that Diana saw it, she noticed the slightly red gradience the sky held, giving off a very demonic feel to everything.

Gedousho also began emerging from the nearby crevices in front of them because of course they did.

A few of the children began to scream and run away at the sight of the monsters, Mary shielding a few of them behind her as she led them away. Lotte and Diana wasted no time transforming.

They immediately began diving into the group of enemies, with Diana taking the lead as usual. It was eerily reminiscent of the day before, with Nanashi continuing to emerge no matter how many of them they struck down. The two were beginning to struggle with the sheer number of enemies thrown their way without aid from their teammates.

Suddenly, a bolt of dark energy flew trough the air, nearly hitting Lotte in the back were it not for Diana’s blade intercepting the blast.

The resulting ‘chink’ noise drew Lotte’s attention to what was behind her. The Nanashi that surrounded them drew away from the samurai and congregated around the source of the attack. It was an Ayakashi, a tad bigger than what they usually saw, with a hood covering most of it’s red scaly body and a staff in his hands.

“Shinkengers! What luck! Now i can perform my spell and destroy you two at the same time! Doukoku will be so proud of me!” It proclaimed loudly. They quickly put the pieces together and came to the obvious conclusion that whatever was happening with the sky must’ve been it’s doing. “Gedoushu.” Diana said threateningly, pointing her blade at the monster. “I demand to know what it is you’ve done.”

“Only the finest show of mystical power in the Gedousho’s long history!” The Ayakashi boasted, raising it’s hands as if to suck up the nonexistent praise coming it’s way. Diana and Lotte gave him unimpressed looks in response but the Ayakashi continued anyway. This was a chatty one. “With all of the misery and pain of yesterdays attack, the Sanzu River has increased significantly. Harnessing all of that grief, i have created an impenetrable dome that not even your Origami could break! This land shall be made a new home for the Ayakashi! A base of operations where there will be no need to retreat into the Sanzu river! And it is all thanks to me!”

“Rekka Daizantou!” Diana yelled out, charging at the Ayakashi with her weapon. In response, the Ayakashi flourished it’s staff before engaging her in a duel. Lotte leaped in to the squad of Nanashi, hoping to give her Lady a chance of fighting without any interruption from the foot soldiers.

The Ayakashi was a pitiful fighter in comparison to Diana, his swings were much slower and his movements far too predictable. Unfortunately, it’s scales were also rather tough, meaning it could more than endure the damage Diana was dealing to it.

“Ho Ho! What’s the matter ShinkenRed? Unable to harm my beautiful skin?” It taunted her and Diana tried her very best not to roll her eyes, she just needed to focus on beating the thing for now. “I think it’s time for us to end this..” The Ayakashi muttered under it’s breath.

Lotte slashed one of the Nanashi across the chest before turning around to block a swing from another one, she pushed away the monsters sword before driving her own sword trough its abdomen. She was doing fairly well so far, but her arms were getting tired already, and the Nanashi kept emerging.

“Aah!”

Diana’s scream of pain pierced trough the air as another bolt of black energy stabbed trough her shoulder. She fell down to the hard ground, her suit fading into red energy. The bolt had tore right trough her jacket, purplish glowing veins going up her neck. Her pupils were dilated into pinpricks and her body limped. “Diana!” Lotte screamed her name, quickly dispatching the nearest Nanashi before rushing over where her Lady had fallen.

She jumped in front of Diana, delivering a strong slash to the Ayakashi’s chest. “Why you insolent-” It was about to try and smack her with his staff.. until his arm started drying up. “Oh damn it. I suppose i should retreat for now.”

Lotte charged at him, ready to deliver another attack, but the Ayakashi had already fled along with his soldiers. Her suit disappeared, leaving her heaving. She looked back behind and knelt down to check on Diana. The black bolt was still there, embedded deep into her shoulder. It seemed the Lady had passed out, groaning lightly at the pain.

“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod.” Lotte mumbled under her breath, panicked out of her mind. She had no idea how to heal a normal injury, let alone _this_. Cut off from any outside help and with the ever looming threat of a Nanashi army attacking not only her but also a group of kids and a twenty year old care giver.

This was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fic has mostly been two parters, i wasn't planning on that but there you go.


	11. Recovery Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana thinks and The Dekarangers do stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *bashes down door* Whaddup people?! After a long trip away from my house (and more importantly my laptop) i have come back with a readable chapter.

Diana awoke laying down in darkness.

Perhaps that was a bit dramatic, to be more precise, she was laying down on top of what felt like cloth. Her vision was blurry, not helped by the lack of light inside the room. She was out of her Shinkenger suit and her regular jacket had a big hole on the shoulder.

For a split second, the idea that she had died passed trough her mind, but the searing pain she felt around the hole in her clothes assured her otherwise.

The purplish veins going up her neck were now glowing faintly, which only served to confirm the suspicions she had about the attack. It also seemed that the bolt had vanished, whatever mark it left covered by a now blood stained rag. Her vision had cleared just enough for her to make out the ceiling and she was starting to hear voices.

“Alright, everyone eat up now.” Diana could hear Lotte’s voice amidst the odd buzz in her ears. More voices followed, slightly more high pitched than adults so probably the kids, which meant she was back inside the daycare. That was good, Diana thought, she hadn’t left the Ayakashi to hurt them. It didn’t take long for her to figure out what happened after she passed out, but surveying the situation for herself would be much preferred.

Unfortunately, sitting up was now suddenly a tremendous effort for her. What she ended up doing was more akin to a fish flailing on the ground because it wasn’t capable of walking. Diana had never felt more embarrassment in her life.

“Miss Lotte! I think Miss Diana’s awake!” One of the children said. Lotte’s head whipped back to the corner of the room Diana was at, smiling in excitement and relief. “My Lady!” She was about to rush over to where Diana was but paused to look at the kids. “I’ll be right back, ok?”

“Ok!” The children said in near unison, though some of them sounded just a little upset.

Lotte nodded at them before proceeding to run over to where Diana was, putting down the last few boxes she was carrying while still keeping one of them in her hands. She rushed over to Diana and knelt down beside her, setting aside the box for the moment to help her up. Marie walked up to them, anticipating the need for her to help. Fortunately, Diana was already leaning against the wall by the time she reached them.

She gave Diana a small smile that almost seemed motherly. “You had us all really worried back there. It was hard getting the kids to leave you alone and let you rest.” Diana looked at her with an almost surprised look, before turning to Lotte. “It’s good to know you’re alright my Lady.” The ginger haired samurai said with a half worried smile. “i though.. maybe, you had..” She trailed off, unsure whether or not to continue that sentence. Lotte quickly banished the though from her mind, instead opting to look at the positive. “Well, at least you’re alright.”

“For now.” Diana added. Marie looked between the two girls, then back at the children, whom were eating trough the last meals they had. She could sense the dread in both of their minds, see it written plainly on Lotte’s face. Diana was awfully good at hiding it, but Marie could tell there was more than a little worry present. “If you two need me, just say my name. _Someone_ needs to keep an eye on those kids.”

They nodded blankly, Marie offering one final smile to the two before walking off.

Diana clutched her injury, the pain was starting to numb by now but she knew it wasn’t going to stay like that. “My Lady, do you know what’s going on?” Lotte asked her, the past hour or so had been an incredibly confusing and stressful one for her, constant fear of another attack gnawing away at her mind.

She nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. “Yes.” Diana tried to focus, now was not the time to panic, but a time to review and asses the situation. That was something she could do, something she could latch onto.

“Long ago, when the Gedousho were more abundant and more powerful, there were occasions where they would attempt to gain a foot hold in the human world. A base inside enemy territory if you will. In these bases, the Gedousho wouldn’t dry up like they normally do and would no longer require the Sanzu River to refresh themselves.” Diana explained, her mind launching into it’s analytical mode, as it often did. “The process takes about four hours.”

Lotte took a moment to absorb the knowledge. “I see..” She pondered the implications of this, it would give the Gedousho more opportunities to assault the city head on. No longer would they have to retreat all the way to the Sanzu after every battle, a definite disadvantage for the samurai. “Is there any way to stop the process?”

“Yes.” Diana replied. “There should be a vocal point where the spell is broadcast from, if that is destroyed then the dome will shatter and the process will stop.” She began stroking her chin in thought. It certainly wasn’t a favorable situation, Diana herself was in no condition to perform the task and Lotte probably wasn’t capable of taking on the Gedousho guarding the vocal point by herself.

Lotte glanced at Diana’s unconventional injury, her concern shifting. “My Lady, what about your.. wound?” She spoke the last word with a bit of hesitation, not entirely sure what to call the thing. “I haven’t seen anything like it.”

The blonde took an almost clinical look at the spot, her expression looking like it wouldn’t be out of place on a doctor. “Ah, yes. The records also mentioned an injury like this one. It flares up red when inflicting an enormous amount of pain onto the victim by way of toxins. Usually, it takes about three hours to kill a person, but my mojikara helps me hold it back for six. Give or take anyway.”

Her retainer’s eyes widened. “Oh.. does the manor have any cures?”

“Yes, actually. We have the cures for most ailments relating to the Gedousho back at the manor.” Diana answered her, only now spotting her own Shodophone sitting besides her. “Though, considering our current predicament..”

She didn’t finish but both of them understood the implications of her words.

“Oh!” Lotte said, remembering the box in her hands. “Uhm, are you able to eat on your own My Lady?” She pulled the lid off to reveal a nice meal of rice, meat, and some assorted vegetables with a spoon and fork inside. Diana was unsure of the answer herself actually. She tried moving her hand and much to her relief it seemed she had enough strength to do so, although they both felt somewhat sore.

“..Yes. I believe so.” She said with a faint smile. Lotte nodded, handing her the small box which Diana accepted. It was a bit of a struggle but she was able to feed herself well enough, which pleased Lotte. “That’s a relief. Some of the younger kids want me to feed them myself and it would’ve been hard to go back and forth.” Her retainer spoke, sending her a nice little smile.

“I see you’ve handled yourself with children well enough.” Diana commented offhandedly, trying to ignore her injury best she could. Lotte’s smile turned shy and a little blush tinted her cheeks. “I guess.. i have a bunch of younger siblings at home so i guess i just got used to taking care of little kids. Well, when i wasn’t training with Dad that is.”

Huh, Diana hadn’t know that about the girl..

Actually, now that she thought about it, she didn’t really know much about any of her retainers.

“I knew your father well.” Diana said. “Back when he was ShinkenYellow. He often accompanied and watched over me and Akko while we played together if my mother wasn’t available.” A small smile overtook her features, it was.. oddly nice talking about her childhood. “I remembered he was a very relaxed man, very approachable.”

Lotte seemed interested in what she was saying as well. “Really? Dad never mentioned that when he talked about you. It does sound like him though..” She chuckled to herself, before remembering something. “Oh right! My Lady, if you’d excuse me i have to tend to the children.” The girl walked away, a little faster than normal. Diana didn’t mind, smiling pleasantly after her.

She was left with her own thoughts now, namely on what to do now without the rest of her team or the ability to contact them. There was also the problem of that Ayakashi, as bad a fighter as it was that skin would make it very difficult to deal with. Perhaps the Kabuto Disc could help with that, but without the three other Discs of her teammates, there was no guarantee if it would be as effective as it normally was. Assuming of course if she could use the Kabuto Disc in the first place, she wasn’t sure if she could lift her normal sword let alone it’s ‘Rekka Daizantou’ mode..

Why was that child staring at her?

The girl Diana first saw when she had entered the building was looking at her curiously, specifically the veins going up her neck. It was understandable, Diana supposed, children are naturally curious as she understood it and the veins would’ve intrigued anyone not informed about them. The girl was standing on her own, a few inches away from Diana, presumably finished with her lunch. Marie and Lotte, busy with the other children, didn’t seem to notice her.

Diana gave her a look that she had meant to be neutral but was seemingly interpreted as hostile by the girl, if the fact that she shrunk away from her gaze was any indicator. “Ah, i-i’m sorry i bothered yo-”

“No no, it’s alright.” Diana assured her, bringing up her hand as a gesture of assurance for the girl. Her gaze softened, at least more than before. “.. Did you want to ask about my wound?” Diana had very little experience dealing with children, so this was a rather odd experience for her.

The girl nodded meekly. Diana tried to give a calming smile, which seemingly worked. She inched a little closer to the blonde, her eyes still fixed on Diana’s shoulder. “What’s your name?” Diana asked her in another attempt to ease the girl’s nerve.

“..Emily.” She answered in a nervous voice. Diana gestured for her to sit down beside her, patting the floor. “It’s okay Emily. You can sit down.”

Emily nodded back, seemingly a bit less intimidated by the Lady now. She didn’t sit down though, instead simply standing besides Diana while ogling the veins. Her eyes widened when she was able to look at it up close, being especially taken aback by the faint glow it emitted. “..Does it hurt?”

“No.” Diana lied. It did hurt significantly less than before, but she could still feel a slight pain from the injury. She had built up a considerable tolerance for pain over the years but it was still rather uncomfortable.

The girl’s hand began to hover over the spot where Diana’s injuries were. She held an almost distant stare now, her gaze alternating between looking at Diana’s face and the bloody fabric on her shoulder. Diana raised her eyebrow at the girl, curious as to why Emily seemed so interested in her.

“..Are you.. are you ever scared when you fight?” Emily said suddenly, catching the samurai off-guard. “Excuse me?” The child finally took up Diana’s offer and sat down beside her. Emily began playing with a loose lock of her hair, looking down at the floor though not as nervous as she had been previously.“..When the monsters came, i was really scared. All the adults were running away and screaming, some of the kids got out in time but.. we were trapped in here until you guys showed up.”

Emily looked up at Diana. “I was so scared that the monsters were going to come back and try and hurt us. But then i thought about you Sentai guys and i remembered how brave you guys always were. You’re never scared to fight the monsters and save people, how do you guys do it?”

Diana didn’t rightly know what to say to that. She had never truly interacted with any of the people she had spent her life protecting, nor had she ever really put any thought into how the people perceived her. Diana never considered herself a hero or even particularly that brave but to the people that saw her.. she supposed that’s what she was to them.

“..Sometimes, i suppose we do get scared from time to time.” Diana finally said, catching Emily by surprise. “But, then why do you guys always fight? Don’t scared people run away from the monsters?” The blonde flashed her a small, somewhat amused smile, adding to Emily’s confusion. “That does make sense doesn’t it?” Diana ended with a little chuckle. “But perhaps you can’t truly be brave without being just a little scared at first.”

Emily tilted her head. “Really?” Diana gave a small nod. “Perhaps being brave means.. trying to move forward or.. holding on even if your scared. You’ve done a very good job at holding on so far Emily.”

The girl thought about it for a moment, then smiled. “Oh, i guess that makes sense.. thank you, Miss Diana.” Diana returned the smile with one of her own. She felt a bit like her mother, it was a nice feeling.

It didn’t last though, the feeling quickly being replaced by an overwhelming pain. The veins on her neck flared a bright red, Emily gasping in shock while her eyes widened. “Miss Diana!” The lunch box on her lap was tossed aside as Diana groaned and squirmed in place trying to do _anything_ to lessen the pain, yet she knew there was nothing for it right now.

“My Lady?” Lotte called over to her, she and Mary turned their heads to look at Diana, quickly panicking at the sight of the glowing veins. Lotte rushed over to Diana, kneeling guy to place a hand over the veins in an attempt to inspect them but ended up causing even more pain. “Sorry! Sorry.” Lotte apologized. Emily looked on in worry, before being pulled away by Mary.

“SHINKENGERS!” A booming voice yelled out from the outside. Lotte and Diana recognized the voice immediately as the Ayakashi from earlier.

Fighting against the pain she felt, Diana gave Lotte a look that conveyed everything Lotte needed to know. “Alright. Stay here my Lady, i’m going to deal with this.” She stood, finding new determination. Lotte materialized her sword in one hand out of Mojikara and pulled out her Shodophone with the others.

“Mary.” Lotte looked to the caretaker, whom nodded in understanding. Mary turned to the children. “Alright kids, follow me.” She gestured for the children to gather around her, which they did with surprising obedience.

Lotte took a deep breath and strode outside the building.

She was met by an assembled horde of about twenty Gedousho, with weapons at the ready and the Ayakashi at the center. “Ooh, just one this time? How noble! It seems your leader is content with sending her soldiers to their death just like that!” It taunted her but Lotte wasn’t about to dignify it with a response.

“Imperial Report” Lotte yelled out, and soon enough she was transformed.

“ShinkenYellow! Lotte Yanson!” She swiftly rushed forward, the Gedousho charging towards her in response.

Inside the building, Diana stared at her Shodophone. Her Lion Origami unfolded itself from the girl’s pockets and floated down gently next to the device. It looked up at her, as if asking what it is she planned to do next. Diana wasn’t entirely sure herself, though she had a feeling.

Lotte was holding her own well enough against the forces she was battling, but it was getting increasingly difficult to keep up. The Ayakashi looked on with an undeniable amusement, watching the samurai so outnumbered and disadvantaged brought an incredible amount of joy to him. It was just so fun watching her defenses slowly crumble in front of his very eyes.

Gedousho archers by both of his sides had their arrows all trained on the samurai. It was a bit difficult, considering how much she was moving, but being cut off by the sword wielding Nanashi from going out of the little circle they had formed made it somewhat easier. Besides, with six archers one of them was bound to hit her.

It was actually rather impressive, the fact that Lotte was so far able to keep up with the fourteen or so Nanashi rushing her at the same time. But she was getting slower, sloppier. It was only a matter of time.

A volley of arrows flew trough the air, their tips lit on fire. The Nanashi pulled away from Lotte, confusing her for a moment before she noticed the projectiles speeding at her. They were too close for her to run away at this point, so she instead decided to try and block them with her sword. It wasn’t going to work, but it was what her brain had decided on in the seconds she had. Her eyes closed as she braced herself for what was about to happen.

Yet she never felt the pain she had expected from the arrows. It happened so fast, too fast for Lotte to really register just _what_ exactly happened. All she knew is that when she lowered her sword and took in the sight before her, Diana was standing with her sword in Rekka Daizantou mode held up to the air and broken arrows scattered across the ground beneath her.

She was in her ShinkenRed suit, though the veins were still visible underneath the material.

“M-my Lady?” Lotte stuttered out, surprised that she had decided to join the fight. Her surprise turned quickly to concern when she noticed how the weapon was shaking in her hands, how the Lady’s legs seemed like they were going to give way any moment now. The Lion Origami flew around Diana as she lowered her sword, returning it to it’s normal mode, and stared down the Ayakashi.

“Lotte. Go find the vocal point. It should be under the center of the dome.” Diana manages to grunt out trough the pain. She strikes a pose that might have been meant to be intimidating for the Ayakashi but all it does is amuse it more. “I can hold him off for that long.” Lotte wants to object or to comment on how utterly untrue that was, but even in this state, Diana’s voice is firm and leaves no room for argument. “..Yes, my Lady.”

She runs off, a few of the remaining Gedousho follow after, but the majority seem much more interested in ShinkenRed. The Ayakashi chuckles. “Oh. The brave Shinkenger planning on sacrificing herself? Brave.” Rarely did Diana ever feel such amount of annoyance and frustration at anyone but this Ayakashi was certainly making it easy.

“I don’t plan on it.” The Lion Origami growls besides her, almost like a taunt or a challenge to their enemies. The Ayakashi would’ve smiled if it had any visible lips. “Well, plans have a certain way of going wrong, don’t they?” With a gesture of his hand, the Gedousho surrounding Diana charge. Immediately, The Lion Origami began flying around and clawing at Nanashi flesh (which was surprisingly effective considering it’s small size.) This made it somewhat difficult for the Nanashi to reach Diana, but a few of them were able to manage.. before immediately having cold metal slice trough their chests.

It was working but Diana knew it wasn’t going to stay like that. The Lion Origami was rather fragile in it’s small form and one good hit would leave it damage. Her movements were also painfully slow, _embarrassingly_  slow if compared to her usual performance. Somehow though, whether trough luck or just her skill shining trough, she’s able to hold her own.

Then the Ayakashi calls the Nanashi off.

“Enough!”It swaggers forward confidently, staff ready in his hand. The Nanashi looked among themselves for a moment but ultimately decide to follow it’s orders. “This has gone on long enough! Clearly you’re unable to handle this simple task, so I shall be the one to strike ShinkenRed down!” He raises his staff to the air in an over dramatic fashion. Good, Diana thinks, he’s wasting time.

Cheers of the Nanashi filled the air as the Ayakashi pointed his staff at Diana. The Lion Origami folded itself, retreating into a compartement on her belt. She pulled the blade closer to her, preparing for the offense she was about to receive. The Ayakashi slams her weapon with a force Diana definitely wasn’t capable of handling. She manages to keep up pace with his attacks for an impressive three seconds until her veins started glowing red.

Diana doubled over from the pain, giving the Ayakashi ample opportunity to smack her over the stomach with his staff. The attacked flung her across the street and slamming into the door frame of the Daycare. The Ayakashi started laughing. “Oh how the mighty fall.” It took several steps forward, letting Diana try and fail to get up first just to savor it. “Now you die, it’s been an honor ShinkenRed..” The Ayakashi pointed it’s staff at her, the tip glowing with a purple energy..

And then somebody threw a rock at him.

It does little more than bounce off of the monster’s skin, but that was all it took to get his attention. “Get away from her you big meanie!” Emily’s voice made Diana audibly gasp. She got up into something of a kneeling position and looked back, seeing the small girl just behind the door frame with a bit of debris in her hands. “Emily? Wha-”

“Looks like everyone’s being brave today!” The Ayakashi spoke with a bit of sarcasm in it’s voice. It shifted the staff from Diana to Emily, who backs away but only a little, throwing another bit of concrete at it’s face. Despite doing practically nothing to him, the act was still enough to _infuriate_ him. “Insolent chil-”

Before it could finish, Diana slammed her sword _hard_ against it’s stomach and actually manages to push it back. She got up, unbalanced and with legs about as strong as jello, but she got up. “Emily, get back.” The girl gives her a determined look, gathering more debris. “But you’re all hurt, don’t you need help?” Diana was about to say something, but stopped when more rocks started coming from inside the building. A few of them bounced of her helmet but most of them found their way on the Ayakashi’s skin, irritating it even further. “Who dares!?”

Diana looked behind her, seeing the kids throwing rocks at the Ayakashi and turned back to see it.. actually take a few steps back.

“Yeah! Miss Diana’s gonna beat you up!”

“You’re just a big bully!”

“She’s gonna show you!”

“ ** _ENOUGH_**!” The Ayakashi yelled out in rage, startling the children and the Nanashi. “YOU ARE ALL INSECTS! I SHALL CRUSH YOU ALL AND LEAVE NOTHING BUT THE BONES OF-” It was interrupted yet again by Emily. “Look! The sky is falling!” The Ayakashi froze in terror while Diana and the children looked on in awe as, indeed, the dome around the area began falling apart from the top, it’s pieces disappearing as it did so.

As it continued to fall apart, Diana could make out the vague shape of a mecha just outside where the dome was. It isn’t her team’s mecha of course, that’d be impossible, the marking of ‘SPD’ on the front was what really tipped her off though. Flying just above the mecha were three familiar Origami in their large mode. The Ayakashi felt panic seep into it’s heart. “W-What?”

Suddenly, from the three Origami leapt down brightly colored blurs that landed down to where Diana was, giving the Ayakashi a slash each as they landed.

“Hope we didn’t make you wait long.” Amanda said with a smirk under her helmet. Barbara and Hannah immediately went to join their Lady, exceedingly curious about the veins on her neck. “My Lady, what is wrong with your-” Barbara was interrupted by Diana raising her hand. “I’ll explain later, but for now.. it’s good to see you all.” They all shot her looks that ranged from surprise to amusement.

Her retainers lined up next to her, swords pointed towards the Ayakashi, whom was growing more and more irritated by how badly the tables had turned. “No matter how many samurai you bring out, i’ll just swipe them away as easily as i did you!” It pointed it’s staff at the Shinkenger, the squadron of Nanashi surrounding him seemed less confident at the boast this time.

“Well how about us?” A new unfamiliar voice said from besides both parties. The Shinkengers turned around and saw that the voice had come from a man, older than all of the samurai and dressed in clothing that somewhat resembled their suits. His outfit was a single red body suit with black and white out linings to indicate a number (in this case the number ‘1’), as well as a helmet that looked more streamlined than their own. By his side was an entire team of four others wearing outfits much like his but with different colors and numbers, presumably to indicate some sort of ranking.

“One! Hating cold blooded evil! DekaRed!”

“Two! Pursuing puzzling cases! DekaBlue!”

“Three! Investigating with futuristic science! DekaGreen!”

“Four! Hunting down vicious space criminals! DekaYellow!”

“Five! And punishing them, with haste! DekaPink!”

They all flourished their weapons, guns and what looked like batons, in a somewhat militaristic fashion. “SPD! Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger!” The children clapped their hands and cheered while the Shinkengers looked on in awe.

DekaRed stepped forward, twin pistols twirling in his hands. “We’ll deal with the small fry, ShinkenRed. Focus on the big guy!” Diana nodded her head and looked between her retainers, whom all shared their Lady’s determination to win. The Dekarangers began opening fire on the Nanashi horde, drawing their attention, while the Ayakashi looked with fear at the samurai marching slowly towards it. They charged, catching it off guard.

“His skin is too hard to break with our weapons.” Diana informed them as she blocked an attack from his staff. Amanda gave her Lady’s sword a quick glance before returning her attention to the Ayakashi’s chest, striking it but to no avail. “What about that bazooka mode thing your sword does?” Hannah gave her a sideways glance. “Without Lotte here? Would it even be strong enough?” True, Lotte was still presumably on her way here, without her disc then the attack might lack in power.

Still, it was their best bet.

Diana swiftly connected the Kabuto Disc and spun it, shifting the sword right into Rekka Daizantou mode and nearly causing her to fall over from it’s weight. She was still too weak to carry it on her own. “Hannah! Barbara! Amanda!” She called out to them. Her retainers seemed surprised for a moment at their Lady’s predicament but they were able to quickly able to cast that aside quickly enough to help her lift the weapon. The Ayakashi was fuming at this point, everything had gone wrong, even if it did survive then Lord Doukoku would have it’s head when it returned. “Shinkengers!” It yelled out in tired rage as it pointed the tip of his staff at them. The point started glowing a shade of purple Diana was all too familiar with.

The Shinkengers (minus one) loaded their discs into the bazooka. Diana put a firm grip over the trigger, beads of sweat rolling down her forehead. With a twitch, she pulled it. “Kabuto GoRinDan! Execute!” All of them said in unison, a blast of energy coming out of the bazooka and destroying the incoming projectile like it was dust in the wind. She heard the Ayakashi’s deafening cry as the bolt reached it and shattered it’s skin.

DekaRed turned his head at the sound, as well as the other Dekarangers. “Now’s our chance!” He proclaimed, dispatching the group of enemies he was fighting before leaping up behind the Ayakashi. His team did the same, all of them unloading a few rounds into it’s back.

He pulled out a little black device from a holster in his belt, before proceeding to point the thing at the monster. “Ayakashi! For assaulting a group of children and one woman. For co-operating with a murderous organization. _Face Judgement_!” DekaRed pushed a button on the device and a booming voice called out ‘Judgement Time’.

Diana wasn’t really sure what happened next, it went by far too quickly, but after mere seconds a big red ‘X’ appeared over the device. “Deletion Approved.” The other Dekarangers called out. DekaRed prepared his guns.

“D-Magnum 02, Set! D-Magnum 01.” His two blasters combined into a single rifle. “Hybrid Magnum!” He pointed his weapon at the panicking monster. “D-Power! Charge!” With a pull of the trigger, a red energy blast flew out of the gun and directly towards the monsters heart.

It exploded into a glorious fireball.

Amanda managed to utter a breathless “Awesome” and Diana would’ve been lying if she said she didn’t agree. DekaRed looked away from the smoldering pile of demon flesh and towards the samurai, giving Diana a friendly wave. “Yo! You must be the new Sentai Red. Sorry i hadn’t come earlier, Fire Squad still had a job for me so i had to do that first.”

“The Ayakashi have second lifes after they’ve died. It turns them gigantic.” Diana said, getting straight to the point. Her wound was still cumbersome and she probably wasn’t in the best state to pilot her Origami but it didn’t matter. Besides, she had another Sentai team on board to help. DekaBlue sighed, chuckling a little. “They always do, don’t they?”

DekaYellow gave a small laugh, tapping him on the shoulder. “Well, let’s go then!”

 

Two mechs and two Sentai teams against one , it was pretty obvious how that fight went.

It was about two weeks later and Diana was well and good. She drank the cure an in a matter of hours, the pain was gone. The mark was still there but she could live with that. After a battle where the Gedousho had been successfully beaten back, Diana and her team were dusting themselves off after the fight. The plaza they were fighting in was generally in good condition, the Magirangers had done an excellent job. Speaking of, the Sentai teams had more or less left the city, either back to their own battles or to their retirements.

As they were leaving the area, Lotte came up to Diana with a plushie in her hands.

“A woman gave this to me a little after the fight. They said Emily made it for you.” She said with a little smile. It was a plushie of.. well Diana in her ShinkenRed suit. It wasn’t that well made but considering the girl’s age.. well it could’ve been worse.

It would later go on sit on top of Diana’s shelf in her room for the rest of the foreseeable future.


	12. (QUICK UPDATE)

Hello all the people who actually care about this story, it's Nick here.

Due to the responsibilities that school have put on me, it will be very difficult for me to continue this fic. I'm not giving up on this though, i'll just be limited to _when_ i'll be able to write it.

Updates to the fic will be happening slower than i'd like them to, basically, but i hope to fully return to this fanfic reinvigorated and ready to give it my all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

....

 

 

 

 

Also i have a tumblr page, if any of ya'll wanna talk to me or do any of the Tumblr-ey things you do on Tumblr then head to this link: ( **https://www.tumblr.com/blog/nickthetoony** )

 


	13. Preview: Eye Of The Tiger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know i've been gone long and i'm sorry for that. But school is nearly over and i just have to hold out for a week or two.
> 
> Please be patient and thank you.

“Well your stupid mom just had to go and _die_ , didn’t sh-”

  
Diana didn’t process when exactly her fist had connected with Amanda’s face, her body seemed almost to move on its own without any thought for what might’ve happened afterwards. She didn’t even feel all that angry at first, as if the actual emotion was playing catch up.

  
But it did eventually come.

  
And she had not felt _this_ angry in a while.

 --

He watched with careful eyes as the Shinkengers fought. Their swift movements and powerful strikes, the disciplined way they all moved and fought. It was certainly impressive, all of them as a unit, but there was only one that really caught his attention.

  
Her sword enveloped in flame and blood, the red of her suit blurring with how fast she moved. She never let up or gave any of her opponents an iota of a chance. That strength and determination.. yes, this one was special.

What was her name again?

His lips quirked into a sinister grin. “.. _ShinkenRed_.”

\---

  
The team gaped at the figure in front of them, clad in bright gold with blue accents. Her helmet, her suit, the crest her weapon bore, there was no denying it.

  
Whoever this was, she was a Shinkenger. One Diana had only seen in blurry pictures.

  
They looked at each other, black visors hiding curious and fearful eyes respectively. Diana didn’t know whether to grip her holstered blade or extend a hand to the stranger. This stranger seemed just as unsure as she did.

  
After a full minute of tense silence, it was Lotte who spoke first.

  
“..Who.. _are_ you?” Lotte asked and the gold stranger seemed surprised of her voice. After a much shorter silence, she finally replied.

  
“Shinken.. Gold.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot guarantee the actual chapter (episode? story? What do i call these..) will be identical to the preview. These are just the big bottom lines.
> 
> I've been stressed and i miss writing this.


	14. Eye Of The Tiger Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *kicks down door*  
> Well. It has been a while hasn't it.
> 
> Since school is (mostly) done with, i can actually write this again! Yay! Feel free to point out grammatical errors, i do not have a beta reader though i don't feel like i need one right now
> 
> You'd know i've also been watching a lot more Kamen Rider lately if you follow my Tumblr.

He felt the rays of light shimmering trough the thick canopy  of the forest, the heat of summer seeping into his bones. Juuzo’s skin had long since become numb to changing seasons but he could still sense that spring had already made way to summer. A weary sigh escaped his lips, he much preffered winter in all honesty.

The air was filled with only the sound of leaves and grass crunching under his boots, a repetitive cycle of noise that he had become accustomed to over the centuries (or however long he had been alive.. no one really knew that). He took note of the little rodents and insects that scurried away from him as he approached, his eyes subconciously scanning the grass and disturbances in the air as to be on alert. His hand gripped the handle of his blade as it almost always did.

A foreign set of footsteps alerted Juuzo to the presence of a new entity in the area. Human? Gedou? He wasn’t yet sure but his blade was already inching out of it’s sheath. Then he heard another set of footprints, followed by three more, and then four more, but still his sword was only halfway unsheathed. He stopped walking when he spotted a somewhat familiar figure approaching him.

Shitari still looked like the same odd parody of a squid he had always looked like, with tentacles sprouting out of his mouth and his cranium looking bulgous and top heavy. He was draped in a gaudy cloak that hid an old decrepit body, and in his left hand was a staff.

Juuzo was now surrounded by Nanashi and Shitari had two each on both sides. “Juuzo..” Shitari spoke with a tired voice, raising Juuzo’s curiousity. “..Have you realized how distressed you’ve made Lord Doukou?!” His voice quickly showed his anger and iritation.

“Then have him come to me himself then if i bother him so much.” Juuzo’s eyes were locked firmly towards Shitari, disregarding the gargling horde of Nanashi around him. Shitari fumed with anger. “How dare you suggest Lord Doukoku dirty himself by coming to your presence! Leave immediately and never return!”

The Nanashi readied their weapons and went into an almost predatory stance. Juuzo was not amused. “Are you trying to threaten me?” Shitari stomped his staff to the ground. “Attack!”

Juuzo drew his blade in a lightning fast motion, the weapon’s long reach cutting trough Nanashi flesh as they charged towards him. In a matter of seconds, he was surrounded by piles of demonic corpses. Shitari and the Nanashi besides him took a step back in fear. Juuzo shot them an irritated look. “Return to Doukoku and tell him not to disturb me anymore.” He said firmly.

Shitari nodded frantically and quickly fled the scene into a crack, followed by the surviving Nanashi. Juuzo snickered, looking down at his weapon. He could hear the low level hum his precious sword emmited and lifted it close to his face. “Be patient. You shall face a challenge soon enough.”

He continued his walk, those Shinkengers should be able to provide that challenge he had been seeking.

 

\--

 

“The Samurai Sentai authorized by providence! Shinkenger! Forward!”

The team charged at the group of Nanashi that had been terrorizing some citizens outside of the city’s stadium, Diana leading the charge as always with Hannah close by her side. Lotte and Barbara were handling a squad of ten together with their own unique weapons, while Amanda was on her own dealing with individual troops that had seperated from the group.

Hannah offered her bow as supporting fire while Diana did the task of eliminating those who were already near them. The Lady’s wound had more or less healed thanks to Anna’s intense care and the bountiful supply of medicine that the Manor possessed (though there was still a nasty scar on her shoulder), meaning she was back to her usual level of performance instead of the slog she felt like she was operating at previously.

It was oddly satisfying being able to cut down the Nanashi almost effortlessly once more.

The Kuroko were busy escorting civilians away from the carnage, leaving the samurai to do away with the Gedousho with ease of mind, Amanda liked that. No complications, no extra burden they had to deal with, just focus on taking out as many Nanashi as you can until they either flee or be destroyed. For all of the things she wasn’t great with as a Shinkenger, she found herself rather talented at that.

A Nanashi from behind swung it’s sword down towards her, Amanda reacted almost too late as she turned around and parried the attack before driving her sword trough the monsters gut. “Huh, you almost did something. You guys usually aren’t too smart.” She noted to herself with a semi-humourous tone and a shit eating grin.

Amanda retracted the blade from it’s stomach and then proceeded to slash at the three Nanashi that were in front of her with a single swift motion. They didn’t die but they were clearly hurt from the attack. She charged at them, swinging her sword down at one of the Nanashi’s sword while kicking one of them into the other in an effort to disorient them.

The Nanashi in front of Amanda lifted her sword off of it’s own and pushed her back with a light shove, the other Nanashi managed to recover their composure and stood once again, staggering and injured but still able to go on. Amanda snickered to herself, amused and ready to correct her mistake. “You guys _really_ think you can do this?”

They answered by rushing towards her, all of them raising their swords. Amanda quickly took out her Disc and attached it to her weapon before spinning it, morphing it into the spear form. She jumped over the Nanashi, confusing them before slicing the three with a Mojikara filled attack. Amanda snapped her fingers as they dropped to the ground and exploded.

“You seemed to have a little trouble with those three didn’t you?” She heard Hannah’s voice calling to her from across her. Amanda shrugged. “You guys look like you got most of this handled.” Slinging the weapon over her shoulder, she moved her hands as if to put them in her pockets.. failing to remember that their pants didn’t have pockets. ‘Well at least i don’t have the skirt.’ She thought to herself.

Diana took a glance at Amanda and then focused back on the fight. “Behind you.” She said simply, prompting Amanda to look back and find that a Nanashi had been sneaking up behind her and was just about to strike. She moved her spear almost instictively and drove it trough the monster’s chest. “Stay alert.” Her Lady said, Amanda frowned. “Yeah sure. Whatever.”

Hannah scoffed at Amanda. “Can you believe the nerve of that girl sometimes?” She said to Diana, who seemed to ignore what she was saying.

“Gwah!” The sound of Lotte’s panicked scream drew the teams attention. Diana quickly finished of a Nanashi she was battling and turned towards the sound to see that her retainer had been hoisted upwards by a thick string like substance, the material wrapping itself around her leg and holding her upside down. “Uhm.. H-Help me please!”

She was tossed away by whatever was controlling the string, slamming into a nearby wall. “Lotte!” Barbara rushed over to her teammates side and helped the girl up. “You okay?”

Lotte clutched her stomach as her arm was slung over Barbara’s shoulder. “I-i’m fine. A little nauseous.” She said, dazed and in pain. Diana looked around the area, it was a pretty open space with little places to hide so it would be hard to stay out of sight.

She felt a poke at her suits sleeve and turned around to see Hannah pointing at a spot near the roof. “My Lady?” Diana looked to where she was pointing and spotted a figure hidden under the shade of the roof. “An Ayakashi!” Diana called out to the rest of her team. The Ayakashi took notice of her voice and began moving sporadically around the wall while shooting out spurts of webbing trough it’s mouth.

The creature bared a striking resemblence to a spider, with multiple arms on it’s torso and antenae sprouting out of it’s cranium. It’s head was able to move in ways that would probably snap a human’s neck.

Hannah aimed her bow at the monster, trying to dodge the webbing that came her way. Diana burned away the webbing that was near her using the flames that she summoned trough her sword while also incinerating the one that were still projectiles.

An arrow of blue energy flew swiftly trough the air and struck the creature in it’s torso, sending the Ayakashi tumbling towards the floor with a loud crash. “Good shot.” Diana said a quick compliment, causing Hannah to gawk at her a little in surprise. Despite just recently being hit by a life threatening injury, her Lady seemed in a slightly better mood than usual.

The Shinkengers surrounded the fallen monster, each of them with their weapons ready to face any sort of resistance it still may have posed. “Ugh.” The Ayakashi groaned in pain before slowly rising, instinctively dropping into an defensive pose. “Ugh.. this was not my plan.” It grumbled underneath it’s breath.

Amanda charged forward with her spear and tried to stab it, before having the Ayakashi leap into the air causing the tip of her spear to imbed itself into the pavement. “Wait what?” Diana looked around and saw that the Ayakashi had leapt several feet behind Barbara. She saw now that the monster possessed several sacks under it’s arms.

It shot out three strings of webbing at the Shinkengers necks, managing to ensnare Lotte, Barbara, and Hannah in it’s grasp.

Before Diana and Amanda could make any move to cut the strings, the Ayakashi pulled them closer despite their attemps to struggle out of the web’s grasp. The three started to panic when they could feel the webbing start to constrict around their necks.

Diana watched as two more Nanashi emerged from crevices and converged on the Ayakashi, guarding it from the remaining two samurai. The Lady stopped to weigh her options, holding her sword at the ready.

This was something Amanda did _not_ do.

Instead, she charged forward and leapt into the battle, quickly dispatching the two Nanashi with quick swings of her spear. “Wait!” Diana tried to stop her but Amanda wasn’t listening. The green samurai attempted to find an opening where her spear could stab at the Ayakashi, but at every turn her attempts were blocked by the bodies of her own teammates. She was half tempted to try and cut trough the webbing, but the risk of accidentally striking her teammates throats was an unnerving prospect.

She tried to pshych out the Ayakashi with feint movements and strikes but was unable to make an opening. Suddenly, a tiny roar sounded trough the air as a flying red blur cut trough the webs and freed the girls. They fell to the ground and started gasping for air. The Lion Origami hooked itself back onto a compartement on Diana’s belt, the Lady striding calmly towards them.

“Okay, this is above my pay grade.” The Ayakashi fled the scene and retreated into a crack in the road. Diana tried to catch up to it but it was already too late.

Diana sighed, shedding her transformation into a flurry of flaming symbols. Her retainers followed suit, Amanda out of choice and the others doing so out of pain. The Lady eyed Amanda, who seemed rather frustrated, before turning her attention to the others. She approached Barbara and knelt down before helping her up.

She and Amanda were going to have to talk.

 

_The next day.._

Another morning, another training session for the team. Diana was not participating however.

The Lady was seated in the meeting room, a stack of family documents situated next to a table in front of her. She was reading trough one of the documents that was written during the 13th generation of the Cavendish family, right around the time a number of the Shinkenger’s Origami had been lost in the fight against Gedousho. The recent invasion had opened her eyes a bit to how underprepared they were against this foe. True, they had their predecessors to help, but Diana wasn’t the type of person who was comfortable with letting others fight ~~her~~ their battles.

They had already recovered two of the missing Origami, namely the Kabuto Origami and the Kajiki Origami, but there was still one more member of the trio that was missing.

The Tora Origami. She just needed to find out where it was.

Yet, despite her usual zeal for reading trough the old family records, the lack of any results had started to really bother her. Despite her family’s reputation of detailed record keeping shining trough the weathered pieces of paper, they still didn’t manage to get her any information about the Tora Origami’s current whereabouts.

She breathed out a weary sigh. Realistically, the only thing she could do now was hope that the Kuroko could confirm any of the rumours that had been circling the area.

“Uhm, My Lady?” Lotte’s voice came from the open door. Diana looked up from her documents and her mouthed twitched upward for a barely noticeable moment. “Yes Lotte?” She asked, eyebrow raised. “Is something wrong?”

Lotte twiddled her thumbs together for a moment, trying to avoid eye contact. “Well.. uh, we can’t find Amanda.” Diana narrowed her eyes at her and became even more perplexed. “..What?” Lotte slowly nodded and took another step into the room. “Yeah, we just thought she was late for training but.. we can’t find her anywhere in the manor.”

Diana took a deep breath and rested her head on her chin and Lotte could swear she heard her Lady mumble something under her breath. “Go with Hannah and try to locate her, i’m not about to let her get away with this.” Lotte nodded in compliance. “What about you my Lady?” Diana took a look at her Shodophone, placed next to the records. “I suppose i’ll go to the training field. There’s little point in continuing this line of research.”

“What are you researching if i may ask?” Lotte asked her. Diana stood and lightly adjusted her robes. “I shall inform you all when it is necessary.”

Lotte nodded and bowed before quickly exiting the room, presumably to get Hannah. Diana followed after her to the field, her mind still dwelling on the Taro Origami and that discussion she had to have with Amanda.

_Twelve Years Ago.._

Amanda fell to the ground, sweat pouring from her skin and her body bearing some bruises at her torso. Her breathing was heavy and she practically wheezed with pain. She clenched the point on her stomach that the kendo stick hit her.

She tried ignoring the tears that pricked her eyes, it wasn’t really working.

“Get up. We’re trying again.” Her mother’s voice cut trough the air, harsh and disappointed. Amanda kept her head down and didn’t move, not wanting her mother to look at her face. “Come on, get up! Are you really going to give up now!?” Her mother took Amanda’s arm and pulled her up. Amanda still didn’t want to move her head. “Mom, I-i’m tired..”

Her mother took a breath, irritated. “The Gedousho aren’t going to care if your tired or not. If you’re going to protect the next Head, your going to need a stronger conviction than this!” She tossed her daughter down on the grass and pointed to the discarded Kendo stick near Amanda.

Amanda nodded in compliance and took the item with shaky hands.

 

_Now.._

 

She rode the bike trough a mostly empty street, letting her orange hair ride the wind. In retrospective a helmet may had been a smart choice to bring along but – as she thought to herself an alarming number of times – ‘Fuck it’.

Besides, Amanda liked feeling the wind in her hair. Especially on mornings like these with the sky partially cloudy.

Amanda needed a little time to cool off after yesterday, her ‘Lady’ was giving her the stink eye the whole time after the fight and really what was she supposed to do in that situation? Her teammates were in trouble and she tried to kill the monster that was attacking them, wasn’t that what she was supposed to do?

“Whatever.” Amanda thought to herself. She just had to be more focused when that Spider Ayakashi showed up again.

She zoomed trough the road, not needing to concern herself with any other vehichles. Though the angry scoldings from elders she zipped trough was slightly annoying, well she could easily ignore them. They didn’t know her.

Though that one old lady did sound strikingly familiar..

Wait.

Amanda hit the brakes and stopped the bike, causing a rather bumpy deceleration. She looked behind her and saw a frustrated Hannah accompanied by a slightly curious looking Lotte.

“Oh _great_.” Amanda said to herself. “This is gonna be _fun_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking of writing a one-shot with the LWA cast in Kamen Rider W. If anybody else would possibly be interested though your free to take this cast
> 
> Shoutaro: Amanda  
> Philip: Lotte  
> Akiko: Akko (kinda obvious)  
> Ryu: Diana
> 
> See you for part two!


	15. Eye Of The Tiger Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amanda starts to let out thirteen years worth of frustration.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Cavendishes, much like the Shiba clan in the original Shinkenger, are the head clan spearheading the efforts to fight against the Gedousho. The death of a head would send shockwaves troughout all of the samurai families, especially the ones that were Shinkengers.
> 
> I feel like Shinkenger didn't explore this concept fully, i'm going to try to.
> 
> Amanda is eighteen at the present

_Eleven Years Ago.._

It was somewhat worrying to Amanda how used to the bruises she was by now.

Treating them as well as the other injuries she sustained during her training sessions had nearly become mere routine for her by this point. It was getting to the point where she could _almost_ tune out the pain, where the constant tiredness she felt was _almost_ bareable, where her mother berating her _almost_ didn’t leave an impression.

But that wasn’t the case. No matter how many times she pretended it was.

Amanda could hear her parents talking in the kitchen from her spot on the staircase , she couldn’t make out what they were saying but she could guess. Her father had always been more unwilling to let her mother train her for as long and as hard as she did. The girl had maybe three hours of actual rest per day and the rest of it was just training and school.

Needless to say this arrangement had always been worrisome to her father but her mother always stuck to the same argument.

“Do you want her to end up doing what i did!? I’m steering her away from failing!” Amanda had heard that herself more times than she liked. She jumped up from her spot when she heard her mother raise her voice.

“I will not have another Cavendish body on my hand!”

Amanda looked down at her feet and something inside her clicked. “..Cavendish..”

“Who the heck are the Cavendishes anyway?”

 

_Now.._

 

Amanda sighed, yeah she was expecting this.

Hannah was in a truly impressively long session berating the girl for her ‘irresponsibility’ and ‘avoiding her duties’. Amanda herself was easily able to tune out pretty much everything she was saying. Lotte seemed fidgety and uncomfortable besides Hannah as she went on and on.

When Hannah finally finished, Amanda just rolled her eyes and shrugged. “Yeah, yeah sure. Whatever.” Hannah had become even more irritated by the girl’s flippant tone and was about ready to go into another tirade but was fortunately held back by Lotte tugging at her sleeve.

“A-Anyway! We need to bring you back to the Manor right now.” Lotte stopped Hannah before she started. “Our Lady wants to see you.”

Amanda groaned in irritation. “Of course she does.” She mumbled under her breath. Hannah walked up to her, the other girl staring her down in defiance. “Listen here O’Neill, I am starting to get tired of your disrespect towards our Lady. You will return to her _immediately_.” Amanda simply rolled her eyes and pushed Hannah away, before then proceeding to walk back towards the motorcycle. “ _Sure_ , i’ll get _right_ to that.” She sai

She mounted the vehicle and spun back towards the pair. “Lotte, get on.” Lotte raised her eyebrow and nodded slowly, a little confused and surprised. “Uhm.. Okay?” The girl did as she was instructed and hopped on to the bike, wrapping her arms around Amanda’s torso. She yelped in surprise when the vehicle suddenly surged forward, leaving Hannah in the dust. “H-Hey! What about me!?” She yelled after both of them, but they were already long gone.

“Hey..” Lotte started, getting Amanda’s attention. “..So, where did you get the bike anyway?” Amanda shrugged in response. “It just found this thing sitting outside of the Manor, some idiot left the keys in it.” She let out an amused laugh. “It’s a pretty good bike though.”

Lotte blinked before shaking her head. “Amanda, are you really not going back to the Manor?” She asked her teammate, clear concern evident in her voice. Amanda stayed silent, her eyes focusing on the road. Lotte sighed. “You know you can’t just keep ignoring this right? Eventually, our Lady is just going to find you herself, you know that right?”

Amanda still remained silent but in her mind she knew Lotte was right.

“..Fine.” She muttered mostly to herself before turning the bike around to the direction of the Manor. Lotte smiled at her. “Don’t worry, i’m sure our Lady isn’t even all that angry at you. She’s a very calm person.” Amanda smiled back at her, it was a small one but still genuine. “Thanks for the reassurance..”

The ride back was relatively quiet, which surprised Amanda a little but she actually found it nice. It took her mind off of her Lady at least.

 

\--

 

_Eight Years Ago.._

Her mother had taken great care in making sure Amanda presented herself well, every moment of the ride to the Cavendish Manor had been spent with instructions about what not to do in front of their Lady’s presence.

As they walked trough the front gates, Amanda could spot the presence of two other girls around her age, one with black hair and the other with orange hair. They seemed to be talking to eachother while their respective pair of parents watched closely. From the looks of things, they looked to be getting along well.

Amanda was met with expectant stares from both the adults and the two children, she looked up to her mother for some sort of instruction but was only answered with silence and the grip on her arm tightening.

When the final child arrived, a younger girl that wore a pair of glasses, an old woman stepped out of the Manor and delivered something of a speech to the assorted group. The two girls that had arrived before Amanda seemed enraptured by it while the other one seemed weirdly fidgety and nervous.

Amanda was just curious when the Cavendish girl herself would come out.

Right as the woman finished, a girl a little older than the rest of them stepped out of the Manor. Her platinum blonde hair was her most striking feature next to the cold blue eyes that just seemed so out of place on a child. The old woman introduced the girl. “I would like to introduce you all to the person you shall be serving. This is Lady Diana Cavendish, the 18th Head of the Cavendish Clan.”

The Lady’s expression was ever neutral and stony as her caretaker spoke for her. Her eyes scanned over the prospective Shinkengers, it was one of the most tense and intimidating moments Amanda had ever experienced when she saw Diana’s eyes narrow ever so slightly as they went over her.

God, those eyes looked like they belonged to an executioner. What the heck _was_ this girl?

After awhile, the young Cavendish was allowed to return back to the Manor, leaving her future retainers breathless and shaky. That was to be the first meeting of the Shinkengers, and Amanda had only one thought buzzing trough her mind during the ride back home.

Was that girl _really_ what she’d been pushed so hard for?

 

\--

 

_Now.._

Barbara kendo stick was knocked out of her hand and sent tumbling to the ground, it’s wielder left sweaty and tired. Diana picked up the training weapon and handed it back to her retainer. “Very good form Miss Parker, though you could afford to be more offensive. A good defense will do you nothing if you don’t attack.” Barbara accepted the kendo stick and nodded. “Thank you my Lady. I’ll remember that next time.” She said before bowing to her. Diana nodded in approval.

“My Lady!” Lotte’s voice drew both of their attentions. Diana turned around and saw that Amanda was standing besides the girl while leaning against the doorframe. Barbara looked at the two in confusion. “Hey, where’s Hannah?”

Lotte flinched. “Oh. Uh.. we kinda.. left her.” Barbara’s eyes widened in surprise. “What?!” Amanda walked up in front of Lotte, her arms crossed and eyes focused on Diana. “She’s probably fine.” The girl said with a nonchalant tone in her voice.

Diana stood where she was, keeping her eyes on Amanda with a neutral gaze. “I hope you understand why I called you here.” She spoke to her retainer, her emotion unreadable from just her voice. “Yeah. To scold me for skipping training, right?” Diana nodded. “Would you mind explaining to me _why_ you did that?”

Amanda shrugged, looking right at Diana. “I didn’t feel like it.” The Lady furrowed her eyebrows, irritation starting to build. “Miss O’Neill, ever since you came here you’ve been flippant about your duties.” She started her little talk and for some reason, Amanda wasn’t able to tune it out like she was usually able to do when people lectured her. “I admit that as a warrior you have performed well, better than i first anticipated, but ignoring training like this will certainly not help you. Especially considering your recent performance.”

“And what the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?” Amanda spoke up, narrowing her eyes at Diana. Lotte walked up to Barbara, both of them becoming increasingly worried at the situation. Diana stood her ground and continued. “You’ve become increasingly sloppy in battle recently.” Her voice grew deathly serious, almost threatening. “Yesterday comes to mind. If you had been just a bit more reckless, you could have easily injured one of your teamamates, or worse.”

Diana stepped closer to Amanda, holding her gaze. “I expect you to understand how serious your duties are Miss O’Neil. It is our mission to defend this world from the Gedoushou, it has been the sacred duty of the Shinkengers since our ancestors first formed this group, and it would appear to me that you have not yet truly grasped that concept.”

Lotte could feel the tension radiate into the air and one look at Barbara could tell her that she also knew something bad was coming.

Amanda was becoming increasingly more irritated with every word Diana spoke. Yet despite that, she was unable to say anything against her. “Well, do you have anything to say Miss O’Neill?”

A tense silence was the only answer Diana received from the redhead, well, that and a look full of ire but that really didn’t bother her that much. “Hmm, i see.” She reached out her hand to Amanda. “Give me your Shodophone.”

Her retainers eyes widened, Amanda in particular had her mouth left hanging open in surprise. “.. _What_?” She gawked at the Lady, her surprise slowly morphing into anger. “What the hell do you mean i _give_ you my Shodophone!?” Diana kept her hand up expectantly. “I cannot entrust that type of power to someone as irresponsible as you are. You are not currently fit to protect the people of this world!” She said firmly. Neither of them seemed willing to back down from eachother now.

“And how the hell would you know that Miss _Cavendish_?” Amanda spat out the family name with venom. “Yeah sure, maybe i’m not too thrilled about ‘training’ or any of this ‘team’ crap, but i can sure as hell protect people! Better than you can at least!”

Diana narrowed her eyes at her. “I sincerely doubt that, Miss O’Neill.”

The girl snickered in response. “Yeah? And what is it that’s so special about you _my Lady_?” Her voice oozed with sarcasm. “You’re just some self righteous, pompous rich girl. You think you’re better than me!?” Long kept frustration and loathing began boiling over as Amanda’s voice got louder with each word. “The _only_ reason the world’s still in danger, the only reason _any_ of us have to be here, is because _your_ stupid mom couldn’t finish the jo-”

Lotte and Barbara gasped, flinching slightly at the sheer speed and brutal force the punch was delivered. One moment, Amanda and Diana were at eye level and now the redhead was lying on the ground, disoriented and in pain.

Diana didn’t process when exactly her fist had connected with Amanda’s face, her body seemed to have almost moved on its own without any thought for what might’ve happened afterwards. She didn’t even feel all that angry at first, as if the actual emotion was playing catch up.

But it did eventually come.

And she had not felt _this_ angry in a while.

Diana reached down into Amanda’s pockets and tried to wrestle the Shodophone away from her despite the girl’s attempt to push her away.  Lotte and Barbara had decided that enough was enough and moved to seperat the two, with Lotte trying to pull Amanda while Barbara did the same with Diana.

Amanda kept struggling to hold on to her Shodophone, not giving a damn about Lotte screaming for her to just give it up. Eventually, Diana won out and managed to rip the device away from her hands.

With heaving breaths, Diana pocketed the Shodophone, her gaze now containing barely concealed anger towards her downed retainer. “ _Never_ speak about my mother like that ever again.” She spat out the words at Amanda, whom returned the Lady’s gaze with slightly less intense rage.

“Uh, what.. happened here?” Hannah’s voice suddenly cut trough the tension that filled the air, drawing the attention of everyone but Amanda. Diana grasped her chest to try and steady her breathing, the feeling of regret slowly making itself known to her. “..O’Neill-”

Before she could say anything else, Amanda shook Lotte off of her and stormed out of the training area, avoiding eye contact with all of her teammates as she walked out.

A deafening silence filled the air. Lotte and Barbara shared a worried look with one another, Hannah looked amongst the three, incredibly confused as to what had just happened. Diana weighed Amanda’s Shodophone in her hand, debating whether she had just made a horrible mistake or not.

Then the ringing of a bell sounded, and Diana decided she’d have to think about it another time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up, this may or may not end up becoming a four part arc depending on how much i invest in this one.
> 
> Also, this isn't really related but like, i kinda ship Amanda/Lotte?? Mostly in a platonic way, but also maybe not??? We'll see i suppose..
> 
> The arc after this will properly be centered on a certain Sixth Ranger ;)

**Author's Note:**

> Uh.. this is definitely a thing i wrote.  
> Not really gonna be giving this my A-plus effort. Just something i wanted to post.


End file.
